Interview methods are becoming increasingly popular in human geography
. The establishment of ethics procedures in Australian universities fo
rces most interview-based studies into an empirical-realist framework
of scientific enquiry, usually as adjuncts to quantitative methods. Et
hics procedures, while offering some safeguards, generally fail to cop
e with issues of power and gender relations in interviewing and with i
ssues of representing others through language. interviews with lone fa
thers are used to exemplify some of the ethical issues in the use of i
nterviewing as a research method.