Joint and individual interviewing in the context of cancer

Joint interviewing lies somewhere between individual in-depth interviews an d focus groups in the panoply of qualitative methodology, yet it has been l ittle explored or described in health research. This article sets out to re flect on the process of choosing to combine joint and individual interviews in the context of a study on the needs of cancer patients and their carers . Questions of intrusion, inclusion, power, and difference caused the resea rchers to refine their research methods and become more responsive to the p references of their participants. The article goes on to describe the kind of data generated by joint interviewing and to consider questions of analys is. The author concludes by suggesting that in appropriate circumstances, j oint interviewing offers a valuable method of enquiry.