Paper short abstract:

In the article I shall argue that interviews cannot be viewed independently and that an interview, particularly on a sensitive topic, must be considered within the context of a more extensive interaction. The acquisiton of reliable information to a large extent benefits from rapport with members of a community, particularly the gatekeepers which can act as the media to balance the positioning of the researcher and the (particularly sensitive) interviewee in the power structure and carry the sensitive information of the subject of an interview in conventional narrower sense to the researcher.

Paper long abstract:

Using two case studies from my fieldwork in Yunnan Province, China, I shall argue that interviews cannot be viewed independently and that an interview, particularly on a sensitive topic, must be considered within the context of a more extensive interaction. Both cases were concerned with drug addiction in the village. The substance abusers or their families lied to me when I (not knowing there were substance abusers in their families) enquired about drug addiction. Later I found out the truth accidentally while chatting with other villagers, who were members or close relatives of my landlord's family. From those cases I will argue that if I had not been viewed by the villagers as a reliable person (in a sense a member of my landlord's family) based on the long-term relationship and successive investigations on and return to the village, I might not have found out the truth. In the village, my landlord was an important gatekeeper of mine. In these cases, an extensive interview should include the narrower meaning of an interview as well as the chatting, which became possible because of the recognition of my role in the village—as an adopted daughter of my landlord. The informal interviewees have played as media to carry the data of the targeted interviewee to the researcher. Sensitivity might be reduced depending on closeness of the relationship of the researcher with the researched.