The role of gender, environment and Individual biography in shaping qualitative interview data

Abstract

Reflexivity is a key aspect of qualitative research. Considerable attention has been given to the ways in which gender mediates the production and analysis of qualitative data; however, much of this has been focused on qualitative interviews with women and the influence of the interviewer’s gender in this specific context. Very little work has been done on comparing different interviewer–interviewee contexts such as male‐to‐female, male‐to‐male or female‐to‐male interviewing. Moreover, the interplay of gender with environmental, psycho‐social and other biographical factors within the interview has received little attention. Drawing on four different studies on cancer care, work and family, and parenting, this article examines how each of these factors potentially mediate the collection of qualitative data in a range of interviewer–interviewee contexts. Moreover, it explores gender as both resource and delimiting factor, examining the use of impression management as a researcher tool to mediate potentially problematic interpersonal dynamics. It is concluded that greater attention should be paid to the complex intersectionality of gender, environmental, biographical and psycho‐social factors in qualitative data analysis and write‐up.