Library Support for Qualitative Research

• Academic Search Premier
  This all-purpose database is great for finding articles from magazines and newspapers. In the Advanced Search, it allows you to specify "Document Type": Interview.
   
• Guide to Newspapers and Newspaper Indexes
  Use this guide created to Harvard Librarians to identify newspapers collections you'd like to search. To locate interviews, try adding the term "interview" to your search, or explore a database's search interface for options to limit your search to interviews. Nexis Uni and Factiva are the two main databases for current news. 
   
• Listen Notes
  Search for podcast episodes at this podcast aggregator, and look for podcasts that include interviews. Make sure to vet the podcaster for accuracy and quality! (Listen Notes does not do much vetting.)
   
• NPR and ProPublica are two sites that offer high-quality long-form reporting, including journalistic interviews, for free.

Nota Bene: To find oral histories, see the Oral History Research guide.

• Repositories for Qualitative Data
  It has not been a customary practice among qualitative researchers in the social sciences to share raw interview data, but some have made this data available in repositories, such as the ones listed on the page linked above. You may find published data from structured interview surveys (e.g., questionnaire-based computer-assisted telephone interview data), as well as some semi-structured and unstructured interviews.
   
• If you are merely interested in studies interpreting data collected using interviews, rather than finding raw interview data, try databases like PsycInfo, Sociological Abstracts, or Anthropology Plus, among others.

In addition to the databases and search strategies mentioned under the "Finding Oral History and Social Research Interviews" category above, you may search for interviews and oral histories (whether in textual or audiovisual formats) held in archival collections at Harvard Library.

• HOLLIS searches all documented collections at Harvard, whereas HOLLIS for Archival Discovery searches only those with finding aids. Although HOLLIS for Archival Discovery covers less material, you may find it easier to parse your search results, especially when you wish to view results at the item level (within collections). Try these approaches:

Search in HOLLIS:
 

1. To retrieve items available online, do an Advanced Search for interview* OR "oral histor*" (in Subject), with Resource Type "Archives/Manuscripts," then refine your search by selecting "Online" under "Show Only" on the right of your initial result list. Revise the search above by adding your topic in the Keywords or Subject field (for example: African Americans) and resubmitting the search.
    
2.  To enlarge your results set, you may also leave out the "Online" refinement; if you'd like to limit your search to a specific repository, try the technique of searching for Code: Library + Collection on the "Advanced Search" page.  

Search in HOLLIS for Archival Discovery:
 

1. To retrieve items available online, search for interview* OR "oral histor*" limited to digital materials.
   Revise the search above by adding your topic (for example: artist*) in the second search box (if you don't see the box, click +).
    
2. To preview results by collection, search for interview* OR "oral histor*" limited to collections. Revise the search above by adding your topic (for example: artist*) in the second search box (if you don't see the box, click +). Although this method does not allow you to isolate digitized content, you may find the refinement options on the right side of the screen (refine by repository, subject or names) helpful. Once your select a given collection, you may search within it (e.g., for your topic or the term interview).

Occasionally (and increasingly), qualitative researchers in the social sciences conduct low risk studies, wherein de-identified data can be shared with other researchers. Such data may be discovered in data repositories.

• See the Repositories listed on this guide to try your hand at finding extant de-identified interview data files.