| Abstract: | Qualitative interviewing is a commonly used approach in the social sciences and is generally regarded as an effective way of developing understandings about everyday experiences and the meanings people attach to them. Where fieldwork time-frames are relatively short, a single interview with each participant is common. This paper explores the potential benefits of adopting a repeat-interview design even when research time-frames are short. Illustrative examples from a study of the educational experiences of pregnant schoolgirls and schoolgirl mothers are used to show what additional data were gathered via the use of repeat interviews as well as how this impacted on data quality. The key benefits of repeat interviews relate to the quality of the relationship that developed with participants over time, the opportunities this afforded to develop understandings about multiple identities and shifting realities and the way in which they allowed the researcher to seek clarification or additional information about issues raised in earlier interviews. The paper concludes that repeat interviews provide opportunities not available within a single-interview research design and that such an approach is particularly appropriate for research that deals with vulnerable populations and sensitive issues or research which aims to capture something about events, experiences and perceptions over time. |
