GENDER ISSUES IN THE USE OF INTERVIEWING AS A RESEARCH METHOD

The open-ended interview is gaining widespread acceptance within human geography as a research method. Frequently, such interviews can provi de researchers with a richer account of events than can larger scale, standardized statistical approaches. However, researchers using interv iews as part of their information gathering practices need to be aware of the social relations within which the interviews are conducted. In this paper I argue that gender relations are an important dynamic sha ping the interview process which can significantly influence the sorts of data obtained using this particular research methodology.