Implications of conceptualizations of the self for interview based research: Making meaning from interview data

Qualitative research is very often concerned with uncovering the basic structure or essence of whatever is being examined so that conclusions can be drawn and principles developed. Postmodernism with its focus on language and with people interacting with one another in the construction of their worlds provides a strong challenge to this. This has particular implications for a construct such as ‘self’. The post‐modern position is that ideas of the self are formed through social interaction in particular social contexts and are therefore not within the individual but within the space between people. This article explores the concept of ‘self’ as understood by recent writers and examines the implications for our understandings of the self gained through interview based research.