Time after time: longitudinal qualitative interviewing and the interplay between structure and agency in communication research

Abstract

Given that communicative phenomena are inherently processual, the scarcity of a longitudinal narrative perspective is an evident lacuna in communication research. This article argues that to explore communicative processes as a longitudinal experience, shaped by the constant tension between structure and agency, researchers can elicit and analyze stories that information producers and consumers construct in their own words across time. Consequently, the article explores the implementation of Longitudinal Qualitative Interviewing (LQI), the repeated interviewing of the same individuals at two (or more) time points, in the study of media. It considers the methodological and conceptual insights that could be drawn from such an application, and the ways in which the unique affordances of LQI enhance the validity of qualitative communication research. Our discussion of the implementation of LQI is anchored in an exploration of occupational life histories of 39 Israeli journalists over the span of a decade.