Narrative feminist research interviewing with ‘inconvenient groups’ about sensitive topics: affect, iteration and assemblages

This article has been written for qualitative researchers inclined towards in-person, narrative interviewing with members of groups designated ‘inconvenient’ or ‘hard to reach’, about sensitive or controversial topics. The aim is to critically reflect on narrative research interviewing practices we have undertaken in Australia with (1) women who had recently survived domestic violence and had relocated with ‘their animal companions’; and (2) dairy farmers discussing challenges to their wellbeing and that of ‘their livestock’. The themes of affect, iteration and assemblages guide our discussion. Affect speaks to emotions; iteration to researchers raising prior interview content with subsequent participants; and assemblages to the process of piecing together an analysis that later appears seamless. With some caveats, we argue that (in-person) narrative interviewing has the potential to generate rapport with diverse participants that enables the production of ‘good data’, that is, data that are rich in detail but also politicised.