A couple interview (or joint couple interview, or more broadly conjoint interview, joint interview or dyadic interview) is a method of

qualitative research Qualitative research is a type of research that aims to gather and analyse non-numerical (descriptive) data in order to gain an understanding of individuals' social reality, including understanding their attitudes, beliefs, and motivation. This ...

used in the

social sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...

, where two

spouse A spouse is a significant other in a marriage. A female spouse is called a wife while a male spouse is called a husband. Married The legal status of a spouse, and the specific rights and obligations associated with that status, vary signific ...

s are interviewed together. Such an interview is typically semi-structured or unstructured. Couple interviews are important in

household A household consists of one or more persons who live in the same dwelling. It may be of a single family or another type of person group. The household is the basic unit of analysis in many social, microeconomic and government models, and is im ...

research, often from a

psychological Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

sociological Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociology was coined in ...

anthropological Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behaviour, wh ...

or social geographical perspective, and are also frequently used within health research. A couple interview is a form of joint interviewing (interviews involving two interviewees), the subject of a growing methodological research literature. There is an ongoing methodological controversy over whether couples should ideally be interviewed together or apart. Bjørnholt and Farstad argue that the couple interview should be seen as a distinct form of the qualitative research interview, and argue that the couple interview has several advantages over individual interviews, in particular in "solving the

ethical Ethics is the philosophical study of moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches include normative ethics, applied e ...

problems of

anonymity Anonymity describes situations where the acting person's identity is unknown. Anonymity may be created unintentionally through the loss of identifying information due to the passage of time or a destructive event, or intentionally if a person cho ...

and

consent Consent occurs when one person voluntarily agrees to the proposal or desires of another. It is a term of common speech, with specific definitions used in such fields as the law, medicine, research, and sexual consent. Consent as understood i ...

among interviewees, and esultingin the production of rich data, including observational data," and in intra-couple dynamics and the interaction between the informants, as well as with the researcher(s), in the interview situation, which may also reveal controversies and areas of conflict, by providing a reflective space for both partners together, which enables them to challenge as well as to reinforce each other's accounts. They further argue that the researcher plays an important role, as couple interviews may be seen as an arena of "family display", using a concept originally proposed by Janet Finch. The opportunity to observe shared storytelling is regarded as a widely documented advantage of joint interviewing.

References

Qualitative research {{sociology-stub