Dramaturgical Interviewing

In chapter four, Bruce Berg and Howard Lune elaborate on dramaturgy’s beneficial impacts on interviewing. The authors begin by stating that interviewing can broadly be defined as a conversation with a purpose (gaining information), but the process of interviewing can be quite difficult to master. According to the text, field research can be divided into two phases: data collection and data analysis. The dramaturgical orientation of interviewing can be thought of as creative interviewing. The chapter mentions active interviewing – using the relationship associated with the interview to gain information. The text also discusses three types of interviews: standardized, semi-standardized, and unstandardized.
Overall, the text makes it clear that interviewing is a very useful tool in data collection for research, but much preparation must be done by the interviewer. Indeed, the text claims that it is important to analyze the interview and explore the topic of the interview in-depth beforehand. The authors stress that question sequencing, content, and style are all important factors which must be …show more content…
non-verbal cues) are also elaborated on. According to chapter four, the interviewer is both an actor and director during dramaturgical interviewing. It is important for the interviewer to pay attention to his or her role during the interview; this includes the interviewer’s repertoire and attitude. The chapter emphasizes the importance of using silence as a tool during interviews, the importance of echoing the interviewee, and not interrupting the interviewee. This chapter also has the ten commandments of interviewing (pg. 151). The text concludes by discussing how to organize data that has been obtained from a dramaturgical interview: using a filing system and short-answer sheets. Overall, this chapter will be a very useful tool when I am interviewing participants during my research this semester; I plan to reread this chapter when that time