The qualitative interview as a research technique in the study of organizations

Abstract

The qualitative interview allows the interpretation of social reality, values, customs, ideologies, and worldviews that are built from a subjective discourse where the researcher assigns a sense and a particular meaning to the experience of the other. From the perspective of Organizational Studies, the use of qualitative methodology and its different techniques; and in this case, the interview has opened the understanding of the symbolic world of organizations to interpret the organizational dynamics. The interview is the means to examine how oral or written texts function within sociocultural practice. In this context, the present work shows the importance of focusing attention on the interview process and visualizing the methodological implications for the collection, analysis and interpretation of information from linking the scenario, the interviewee, the subject of research, the paradigm and the researcher. For this, the present is based within the scope of Organizational Studies presenting three case studies using the interview and participant/non-participant observation. The cases addressed present the application of the interview and its operation. Among the main results, some lines of action were found for the approach, connection and interpretation of the reality of the subjects. In such a way, that the diversity of perspectives that each of the subjects have and express about the organizational dynamics and construction of their environment is observed.