Proceedings of the 8th World Conference on Qualitative Research

Qualitative studies rely heavily on interviews as a data collection method. These are most often individual interviews or focus groups. There is a very limited, but growing, body of literature on dyadic interviews of couples and family members as a data collection method of choice in qualitative research (e.g. Eisikovits, 2010; Braybrook et al., 2016; Polak & Green, 2016; Taylor & de Vocht, 2011; Zarhin, 2018). After a brief review of the existing literature, the current presentation will focus on a number of the presenter’s studies that employed dyadic interviews (Jewish Chassidic couples who serve as emissaries throughout the world, Palestinian couples in which the woman had developed a high-level career) as well as those that deliberately did not use dyadic interviews (bereaved parents and grandparents, children of a parent with mental illness and parents of a child with mental illness). The underlying principles regarding deciding which approach to adopt, as well as a deconstruction of these principles, will be detailed. Other methodological issues will be discussed, including various interview approaches, types of analyses (content, narrative, structural, interactive), and outcomes. An example of an innovative dyadic interview method in which a research “couple” (who were married) interviewed married couples in order to asses their relationships will also feature in this presentation. In addition, ethical dilemmas such as silencing, confidentiality, and harming dyadic relationships will be aired. Finally, new types of family dyadic interviews that may yield significant findings such as parent-child or sibling interviews will be explored.