COVID times make ‘deep listening’ explicit: changing the space between interviewer and participant

Abstract

This article draws on the research project Post-abortion narratives shared by Perth women via face-to-face interviews. The project was subsequently disrupted by the arrival of COVID-19 in Perth, Australia, making it necessary to conduct interviews via video call. The experience of using an online platform to conduct interviews became an opportunity to consider more carefully the practice of ‘deep listening’. This kind of listening involves creating an emotional connection with the participant so that the interviewer is able to hear multiple layers of meaning and context. It includes listening mixed with perception in which one can hear the emotions of the other. In a paradigm where the interview is seen as an interaction between two embodied individuals and the interviewer herself is the instrument of research, this article examines the communication that occurs in the space between two co-present, embodied individuals and explicates the practice of deep listening. While interviewing via video call is an excellent tool, I argue that a layer of meaning is removed by the technological medium, which impacts the researcher relationship and thus the ability to listen deeply.