Chapter Three On being interviewed
Abstract
I’ve enjoyed it. I remember when you went the first time, I thought she must have thought, my God, that woman went on talking and how boring to have to listen – you know, not just to answer your questions, but to go on to other things; when you asked a question, I wouldn’t say yes, so-and-so, that’s how I feel about that, I’d go on: like a conversation after each question. I thought maybe she only wanted to be here for an hour or something. And she was here for hours.
First of all, I enjoy talking. I think perhaps not quite so much now [baby crying]. I’ll probably enjoy this afterwards, in retrospect, but it’s difficult, because you’re not so free. But before the baby, I really enjoyed talking.
Just as a person to talk to – yes, I’ve enjoyed it.
How much is what you would like to find or what you think anyway going to influence your selecting material from the tape-recordings? If somebody else listened to your recordings and wrote a book about it, they would interpret it completely differently, wouldn’t they?
I don’t think it’s affected the experience. I think it’s possibly affected my evaluation of it: the fact that you make me articulate my responses, or rake about in my memory, or try to rationalise and explain; it makes me more aware of it as an outside experience. You see, questions you’ve asked me I might not ask myself. I don’t think you change what I think, but you make me look at it.
Abstract
I’ve enjoyed it. I remember when you went the first time, I thought she must have thought, my God, that woman went on talking and how boring to have to listen – you know, not just to answer your questions, but to go on to other things; when you asked a question, I wouldn’t say yes, so-and-so, that’s how I feel about that, I’d go on: like a conversation after each question. I thought maybe she only wanted to be here for an hour or something. And she was here for hours.
First of all, I enjoy talking. I think perhaps not quite so much now [baby crying]. I’ll probably enjoy this afterwards, in retrospect, but it’s difficult, because you’re not so free. But before the baby, I really enjoyed talking.
Just as a person to talk to – yes, I’ve enjoyed it.
How much is what you would like to find or what you think anyway going to influence your selecting material from the tape-recordings? If somebody else listened to your recordings and wrote a book about it, they would interpret it completely differently, wouldn’t they?
I don’t think it’s affected the experience. I think it’s possibly affected my evaluation of it: the fact that you make me articulate my responses, or rake about in my memory, or try to rationalise and explain; it makes me more aware of it as an outside experience. You see, questions you’ve asked me I might not ask myself. I don’t think you change what I think, but you make me look at it.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- Sources of extracts iv
- Foreword by Germaine Greer vi
- Preface ix
-
Sex and gender
- Introduction 2
- The difference between sex and gender 7
- Genes and gender 13
- A kind of person 21
- Childhood lessons 31
- Science, gender and women’s liberation 41
-
Housework and family life
- Introduction 54
- On studying housework 59
- Images of housework 63
- Work conditions 75
- Standards and routines 87
- Marriage and the division of labour 93
- Helping with baby 103
- Housework in history and culture 109
-
Childbirth, motherhood and medicine
- Introduction 118
- The agony and the ecstasy 123
- Lessons mothers learn 139
- Medical maternity cases 151
- Mistakes and mystiques of motherhood 179
-
Doing social science
- Introduction 184
- The invisible woman: sexism in sociology 189
- Reflections thirty years on 207
- On being interviewed 211
- Interviewing women: a contradiction in terms? 217
- Who’s afraid of the randomized controlled trial? Some dilemmas of the scientific method and ‘good’ research practice 233
- Paradigm wars: some thoughts on a personal and public trajectory 245
- General bibliography 251
- Bibliography of work by Ann Oakley 281
- Ann Oakley: further reading 285
- Index 295
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- Sources of extracts iv
- Foreword by Germaine Greer vi
- Preface ix
-
Sex and gender
- Introduction 2
- The difference between sex and gender 7
- Genes and gender 13
- A kind of person 21
- Childhood lessons 31
- Science, gender and women’s liberation 41
-
Housework and family life
- Introduction 54
- On studying housework 59
- Images of housework 63
- Work conditions 75
- Standards and routines 87
- Marriage and the division of labour 93
- Helping with baby 103
- Housework in history and culture 109
-
Childbirth, motherhood and medicine
- Introduction 118
- The agony and the ecstasy 123
- Lessons mothers learn 139
- Medical maternity cases 151
- Mistakes and mystiques of motherhood 179
-
Doing social science
- Introduction 184
- The invisible woman: sexism in sociology 189
- Reflections thirty years on 207
- On being interviewed 211
- Interviewing women: a contradiction in terms? 217
- Who’s afraid of the randomized controlled trial? Some dilemmas of the scientific method and ‘good’ research practice 233
- Paradigm wars: some thoughts on a personal and public trajectory 245
- General bibliography 251
- Bibliography of work by Ann Oakley 281
- Ann Oakley: further reading 285
- Index 295
