The power dance in the research interview: manifesting power and powerlessness

• Published in: Qualitative research : QR Vol. 13; no. 5; pp. 493 - 510
• Main Authors: Vähäsantanen, Katja, Saarinen, Jaana
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01-10-2013
• Subjects: Aged; Alienation; Empirical research; Gender; Interviewers; Interviews; Occupations; Power; Power relations; Role playing; Teachers; profession; gender; research interview; interaction; knowledge production; power; age
• ISSN: 1468-7941; 1741-3109
• DOI: 10.1177/1468794112451036

We examine the power that is manifested between interviewers and interviewees in research interviews. Our empirical examples are drawn from interviews conducted with: (a) a vocational teacher; and (b) a senior researcher. We analysed the manifestations of power both in the course of the interviews and across interviews. We found that power is exercised and distributed diversely and situationally between the interview participants (interviewer and interviewee) during the interviews. It appeared that in a given interview, the interplay between individual backgrounds and the interview setting was connected to the activities through which power was manifested, and that these activities played a role in shaping the subsequent course and content of the interview. Our findings contribute to discussion concerning the shifting significance of difference and sameness between interview participants with regard to power relations, what is conveyed in interviews, and the manner in which it is conveyed.