Syvähaastattelu: identiteetti, merkitys ja politiikka

Authors

• Pami Aalto

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to discuss the applicability and role of in-depth interviews in political science. The main argument is that in methodological terms, in-depth interviews provide the scholar with material of a clearly new and different type compared with that commonly used in traditional political science. In particular, its radical ontology and narrative character work to dissociate in-depth interviews from traditional political science, with its preference for various survey methods. To examplify these arguments, the article presents a case study on the meanings attached to subjectively experienced identities. The article concludes by noting that material compiled using in-depth interviews tends to lead the scholar to broaden the traditional view of politics in favour of a more complex notion sensitive to the new loci of politics.