Conducting Biographical-Narrative Interviews During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Methodological Reflections on Situated Affective Encounters and Emotional Reflexivity

In pre-pandemic times, biographical-narrative interviews were conducted regularly on-site in intimate face-to-face situations. However, the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by several lockdowns and the politics of social distancing, forced many scholars to use digital tools for interviewing. In this arti...

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Published in:	Forum, qualitative social research Vol. 26; no. 1; pp. 1 - 23
Main Author:	Ruokonen-Engler, Minna Kristina
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Berlin Freie Universität Berlin 2025 FQS
Subjects:	Anxiety biografisch-narrative Interviewführung biographical-narrative interviewing COVID-19 COVID-19 pandemic COVID-19-Pandemie digital online interviews digitale Online-Interviews emotional reflexivity emotionale Reflexivität Emotions Epidemie Interviews Narratives Pandemics Reflexivity situated affective encounters situierte affektive Begegnungen
ISSN:	1438-5627, 1438-5627
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Abstract	In pre-pandemic times, biographical-narrative interviews were conducted regularly on-site in intimate face-to-face situations. However, the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by several lockdowns and the politics of social distancing, forced many scholars to use digital tools for interviewing. In this article, I take a self-reflexive, autoethnographic look at my own research process during the COVID-19 pandemic. I explore the problems I faced in conducting interviews both on-site and in online settings. I focus on the affective and emotional dimension, as this was strongly influenced by "atmospheres of anxiety" (TRIGG, 2022), created by the pandemic. I propose the concept of "emotional reflexivity" (HOLMES, 2015) as a tool for dealing with the challenges encountered in the research field. Furthermore, I advocate an epistemic exploration of the objections and opportunities of conducting biographical-narrative interviews in digital online space. In so doing, I aim to contribute to the empirically grounded, methodological discussion of the affective and emotional underpinnings and diverse ways of conducting such interviews.
AbstractList	In pre-pandemic times, biographical-narrative interviews were conducted regularly on-site in intimate face-to-face situations. However, the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by several lockdowns and the politics of social distancing, forced many scholars to use digital tools for interviewing. In this article, I take a self-reflexive, autoethnographic look at my own research process during the COVID-19 pandemic. I explore the problems I faced in conducting interviews both on-site and in online settings. I focus on the affective and emotional dimension, as this was strongly influenced by "atmospheres of anxiety" (TRIGG, 2022), created by the pandemic. I propose the concept of "emotional reflexivity" (HOLMES, 2015) as a tool for dealing with the challenges encountered in the research field. Furthermore, I advocate an epistemic exploration of the objections and opportunities of conducting biographical-narrative interviews in digital online space. In so doing, I aim to contribute to the empirically grounded, methodological discussion of the affective and emotional underpinnings and diverse ways of conducting such interviews.
Author	Ruokonen-Engler, Minna Kristina
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SubjectTerms	Anxiety biografisch-narrative Interviewführung biographical-narrative interviewing COVID-19 COVID-19 pandemic COVID-19-Pandemie digital online interviews digitale Online-Interviews emotional reflexivity emotionale Reflexivität Emotions Epidemie Interviews Narratives Pandemics Reflexivity situated affective encounters situierte affektive Begegnungen
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Title	Conducting Biographical-Narrative Interviews During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Methodological Reflections on Situated Affective Encounters and Emotional Reflexivity
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