The Qualitative Interview in Media Production Studies

In media production studies the qualitative research interview is frequently used as a tool in the generation of data, and thus in building the analytical object. However, the research contributions—including my own work—contain only to a very limited degree methodological reflections on what characterizes this kind of research interview and its application in the given analytical context. This somewhat paradoxical situation is particularly striking when compared with the situation in audience studies. Theoretical coherence and methodological transparency have been part of the quality demands for many years within this research tradition. On the basis of this difference between audience studies and production studies, the aim of the chapter is to help clarify what can be said to characterize the special configuration of the qualitative research interview genre when used in media production studies. I hope that this will help advance the validity of our research projects as well as the overall level of theoretical and methodological self-reflexivity of this growing and increasingly important research effort.