Well, quite honestly, I said I hope this research is worth it. I said to my Mum I’ve got this lady coming to see me this morning. She said, what about? I said I hope it's not a load of old rubbish. Because there's been so much research on such rubbishy things I feel money's been wasted. So she said, oh it probably is. … Well, it's a bit indulgent isn't it, really, just talking about yourself all the time?

Regarded as an information-gathering tool, the interview is designed to minimise the local, concrete, immediate circumstances of the particular encounter - including the respective personalities of the participants - and to emphasise only those aspects that can be kept general enough and demonstrable enough to be counted. As an encounter between these two particular people the typical interview has no meaning; it is conceived in a framework of other, comparable meetings between other couples …

The interview is not simply a conversation. It is, rather, a pseudo conversation. In order to be successful, it must have all the warmth and personality exchange of a conversation, with the clarity and guidelines of scientific searching. Consequently, the interviewer cannot merely lose himself* in being friendly. He must introduce himself as though beginning a conversation, but from the beginning the additional element of respect, of professional competence, should be maintained. … He is a professional researcher in this situation, and he must demand and obtain respect for the task he is trying to perform.