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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/65884
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- Title
- Qualitative interviewing of older adults: offline versus online methods
- Author(s)
- Malta, Sue
- Abstract
- The current paper is based on a study of 45 Australian older adults (aged 60 – 92 years) and their offline and online romantic relationships. It discusses the four different interview methods that were used to collect the data: (i) face-to-face, (ii) telephone, (iii) instant messaging and (iv) email. It is argued that with increasing numbers of older adults making use of the Internet, online interviewing provides researchers in ageing a further means of access to segments of this population. Online interviewing has many benefits, not least of which are that it is both cost effective and efficient. Furthermore, if the nature of the research topic is of a potentially sensitive nature, as in the project reported here (love, sex and intimacy), the use of online interviewing can help alleviate potentially embarrassing and confrontational moments which can occur for both researcher and participants with more traditional face-to-face and telephone interviewing methods.
- Publication type
- Conference paper
- Research centre
- Swinburne University of Technology. Faculty of Life and Social Sciences
- Source
- Proceedings of the 8th National Emerging Researchers in Ageing Conference: A New Era for Ageing Research: What’s in Your Toolkit? (ERA 2009), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 23 October 2009
- Publication year
- 2009
- Keyword(s)
- Email interviews; Face-to-face interviews; Instant messaging interviews; Older adults; Online interviewing; Online interviews; Qualitative interviews; Telephone interviews
- Publisher
- Healthy Ageing Research Unit, Monash University
- Publisher URL
- http://www.era.edu.au/ERA+2009
- Copyright
- Copyright © 2009. Published version of this paper reproduced with the kind permission of the publisher.
- Additional information
- This paper was awarded the Australian Association of Gerontology - Victoria Prize for Best Paper Presentation by a Victorian Student 2009
- Full text
- Peer reviewed
