When My Eyes Bring Pain to My Soul, and Vice Versa: Facing Preconceptions in Email and Face-to-Face Interviews

What are the factors influencing the trustworthiness of data produced in email interviews? The main purpose of this article is to reflect on this issue by discussing two examples from my own experience of conducting email interviews in combination with face-to-face interviews. The main questions were: What different premises guide and shape the interpretation and analysis of subjects as text or as embodiment when interviews are conducted face-to-face or by email? Is the researcher more or less a victim of his or her own imagination and preconceptions when interviewing people via email, relying solely on the written text to understand who the Other is? From a constructivist-inspired interaction perspective, I suggest that other possible strategies of visibility emerge in the interaction between the interviewer and participant in email interviews. These strategies are rooted in the researcher's personal and embodied knowledge of the field under investigation.