Donovan and Marsick (2000)
documented three trends in human resource development (HRD) research: (1) HRD has made strong inroads as an area of professional practice, (2) the field continues to use qualitative and quantitative tools relatively equally, and (3) the number of articles published in the field increased by 50 percent from 1997 to 1998. The second point, that qualitative and quantitative tools are used relatively equally, is contradictory to personal experience. An examination of qualitative empirical studies in the field of HRD published between 1999 and 2003 in AHRD proceedings found that of 695 total papers, 151 (less than 22 percent) were considered qualitative studies (Plakhotnik, Rocco, McCarley, Ianinska, Bernier, & Gonzalez, 2005). Of these 151 papers, data were most frequently collected through interviews (92.5 percent). The language used to describe the interviews was inconsistent and often not grounded in the inquiry literature. The purpose of this review is to critique a handbook and two companion volumes that may prove useful to scholars.
Gubrium and Holstein edited the Handbook of Interview Research: Context and Method (2002) with researchers and professionals in mind. Professionals "who deal with people make use of some form of interviewing" (p. xi), for example, to conduct needs assessments, recruitment and selection activities, and personnel evaluations. The handbook is described as "both an encyclopedia and a story" (p. xi). As an encyclopedia, it "provides a 'circle' of knowledge for what has become the method of choice for obtaining experiential information from individuals" (p. xi). A comprehensive overview of methodological issues (distinctive respondents, special applications, and pragmatic and philosophical concerns) is organized by topics and cross-referenced for readers' easy navigation. The handbook also tells a story of "the interview society": "No longer should we regard the interview as simply an instrument of data gathering technology; it is also an integral part of society-now more decidedly than ever" (p. xii).