Another ethnograpic method that feminist researchers use in gathering research is, in-depth interviews, which is the most popular method. An in-depth interview involves, "relatively unstructured conversations with informants about the subject of inquiry. These conversations can be held just once with each informant or consist of a series of talks" L. Van Zoonen, p.136. In-depth interviews contain more open-ended questions, which allow the respondents to express their experiences, and are more willing to answer questions to the subject they find important to them. For example, Ann Gray who did a study about women¹s research use of VCR¹s states that, "Many of the women eagerly told me many stories about their family histories and their present lives, enjoying the opportunity to talk about themselves to an interested listener" L.Van Zoonen, p.137. Open-ended interviews make it easier to understand and more fun for both the researcher and the informant. Some of the disadvantages associated with open-ended interviews are, abundance of information, relevance of information and a lack of comparability.

*Several classmates conducted some research, which discusses some examples of in-depth interviews. The first is on Morrit's work on women using computers. The second is on Herring's work on CMC on listservs.

 

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