“I never actually thought about it”: a novel dialogical approach to qualitative interviewing combining audio-visual elicitation and member reflection techniques

We describe a novel approach to member reflection interviewing which integrates audio-visual elicitation materials based on researcher interpretation of participant-generated social media data. Informed by Bakhtinian dialogism, this method extends existing member reflection and elicitation methods to develop a new phase of data generation and analysis at the mid-point of a research project, in this case one exploring men’s social media stories of Crohn’s disease. A major purpose of this second phase was to illuminate how the interviews with and analyses by the researchers shaped participants’ responses. Three participants took part, each of whom reported gaining new insights into themselves and their posts. We argue that this method fostered transformative dialogue, producing fresh understandings and generating new perspectives for both participants and researchers. We propose that this innovative form of interviewing encourages compassionate and mindful interaction, offering the potential to enhance the depth and significance of participant involvement in research.