eprintid: 10146791
rev_number: 7
eprint_status: archive
userid: 699
dir: disk0/10/14/67/91
datestamp: 2022-04-20 08:30:21
lastmod: 2022-04-20 08:30:21
status_changed: 2022-04-20 08:30:21
type: article
metadata_visibility: show
sword_depositor: 699
creators_name: Swain, Jon
creators_name: King, Brendan
title: Using Informal Conversations in Qualitative Research
ispublished: pub
divisions: B14
divisions: J80
divisions: B16
divisions: UCL
keywords: methods in qualitative inquiry, ethnography, interpretive description, micro-ethnography, observational research
note: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).
abstract: The aim of this paper is to promote a greater use of informal conversations in qualitative research. Although not a new innovation, we posit that they are a neglected innovation and a method that should become more widely employed. We argue that these conversations create a greater ease of communication and often produce more naturalistic data. While many researchers have written about the use of informal conversations in ethnography, as part of participant observation, we are advocating that these conversations have an application beyond ethnography and can be used in more general qualitative exploration that occurs in everyday settings where talking is involved. They can be used as the main method but also to complement and add to more formal types of data created through interview. Sometimes informal conversations are not only the best way, they are the only way to generate data. We use examples to show how we have used informal conversations in our research, which we interrogate and use to raise a number of, mainly ethical and methodological, issues. We discuss the main advantages and disadvantages of using this method, including the status and validity of data produced.
date: 2022-01-01
date_type: published
publisher: SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
official_url: https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069221085056
oa_status: green
full_text_type: pub
language: eng
primo: open
primo_central: open_green
verified: verified_manual
elements_id: 1948622
doi: 10.1177/16094069221085056
lyricists_name: Swain, Jon
lyricists_id: JSWAI45
actors_name: Flynn, Bernadette
actors_id: BFFLY94
actors_role: owner
full_text_status: public
publication: International Journal of Qualitative Methods
volume: 21
pages: 10
issn: 1609-4069
citation:        Swain, Jon;    King, Brendan;      (2022)    Using Informal Conversations in Qualitative Research.                   International Journal of Qualitative Methods , 21       10.1177/16094069221085056 <https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069221085056>.       Green open access   
 
document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10146791/1/16094069221085056.pdf