Advantages and disadvantages of reciprocal peer-to-peer interviewing

Abstract

The advantages and disadvantages of reciprocal peer-to-peer interviewing as a data collection approachare presented in this paper. Reciprocal peer-to-peer interviewing is a research technique whereparticipants interview each other rather than a member of a research team. Reciprocal peer-to-peerinterviewing was undertaken in a small qualitative study between healthcare practitioners to reflect onwhether, and how, their breastfeeding experiences had influenced their professional practice. Four pairsof healthcare practitioners were recruited from an online Parenting Science Gang group. They interviewedeach other via online teleconferencing which also recorded the interviews. The interviews were analysedby volunteers from the same sub-group. Benefits of the technique included: ease of building rapportand finding common ground; open discussion of difficult topics; and freeing up research organiser time.Disadvantages were: difficulties clarifying unclear interview content; an inability to redirect the interview ifit goes off-topic; and unawareness of technology failure. Social researchers are advised to weigh up thebenefits of the technique against the risks, and possibly adapt the method.