Face-to-Face

Hmm.. my brain registered today as the last day of the weekend ... aka what is normally a Sunday ... and that it was time to blog. Unfortunately, it is already the start of a new week. I propose to discuss something from the previous week anyway in order to get my thoughts out.

This past week I found the face-to-face research style very interesting. I know that in class we had a nice discussion over empathy vs. sympathy etc. when conducting interviews and it made me think of Knight Ch. 3. He states that the researcher/person conducting the interview has a large effect on the person being interviewed. For example, whether the interviewer is male or female can change how the person being interviewed reacts and answers them. Knight questions whether or not this is threatening the science behind the research. Of course, he also presents the alternate view. Is face-to-face inquiry so awesome because one can form a relationship with the subject and discover new information?

My opinion is that it really depends on the situation. As an example, my mind kept flashing back to the movie "Kinsey." In this movie Liam Neeson plays the role of Alfred Kinsey, a man studying human sexuality in the 1940s. One scene depicts Kinsey training his interviewers. They must practice keeping a straight face, and a professional attitude when asking people very personal questions about their sex life. I believe the point of this attitude was to make people feel like the research was for science, and that it was not going to be attributed to them in any way. Therefore, they could say the truth without shame. One might think, however, that because it is such a sensitive topic you should try to gain the subjects' trust rather than remain aloof and scientific. Face-to-face seems to be very tricky, but I think that it is a great way to gain valuable insight into research.