Bringing Back the Researcher: Dominance and Silences of Interviews in Qualitative Research

Abstract

This paper problematizes the current use of interviews in qualitative research, questioning whether interview data might have become privileged over other types of data. Seeking to explore how interviews have been used in top-tier qualitative research, our study is grounded in a systematic analysis of 353 empirical articles that use interviews published in Academy of Management Journal and Administrative Science Quarterly between 1986 and 2020. Our analysis resulted in four interrelated themes—hierarchy of data, marginalization of the researcher, disappearing contexts, and loss of subjectivity—that we view as “silences” related to the use and predominance of interviews in qualitative research. Building from our presentation of each theme, we conclude with a way forward in how researchers may engage with interviews to develop more impactful and interesting theoretical contributions.