Introduction

I would like to begin this concluding chapter by quoting De Sola Pool. Although this quote is from 1957, it could well serve as a general conclusion for the present study. In his paper De Sola Pool criticizes the assumption that we can:

In this chapter I draw conclusions from the analyses of the “interpersonal character” of the interviews I have presented in this book. The first three sections briefly point out what I believe are the benefits of a CA approach to the study of standardized interviews. Section 4 presents some possible research questions based upon the findings of conversation analysis. Section 5 explains why interviewers should be allowed more flexibility than is currently granted to them by the rules of standardized interviewing. In the final section it will become clear that the costs of flexible interviewing are considerable, but whether or not the price is too high is a question that cannot be answered by survey methodology.