The Interview as a Research Technique in Social Work – Methodological and Practical Challenges

Abstract

Meeting face-to-face with the beneficiaries of social work services and having a discussion with them, in order to diagnose the beneficiary's problem and identify the context of the case-by-case intervention, is the basic form of performing a social worker’s activity. That is precisely why, although the interview, as a research technique, is a method specific to sociological research, this technique has been taken up on a large scale in social work, not only for case intervention, but also as a research method. In general, the beneficiaries of assistential services, who are most often the subjects of scientific research in this field, are vulnerable people, so the interview poses two main challenges as a research technique. The first is organizing the framework in which the interview is carried out and the manner of conducting it by the researcher, in order to create the psychological context that favors the interviewee's communication with the researcher. The second is the way data is analyzed after collection, in order to minimize the influence of subjective interpretations on the part of the researcher. The purpose of this article is to analyze the way methodological errors can be avoided, in order to achieve a research that draws scientific conclusions with a high degree of validity and credibility.