Grammarye, grammatization, grammatology: interviewing technique as a magic trick
Résumé
A doctoral seminar in interview techniques is compared to a Harry Potter-like training in magic. First, the graduate students were instructed in the use of research methods as sorts of magic tricks; ironically to be called: ‘gramarye’, ‘grammatization’ and ‘grammatology’. Then came the even greater trick, whereby complex and multifaceted reality supposedly was transformed into scientific knowledge. In this chapter, Magic realism and the film The Prestige are explored as clues to understanding how the extraordinary element passes unnoticed. Without magic, research interviews would produce less spectacular but more sincere accounts. And getting rid of the magic would change the type of research contribution that could be expected. Concealment of assumptions and magic-like ‘presto’ results, would then be replaced by proper exposure of the interpretative work. The ‘prestige’ would be removed from the author and granted to the persons and worlds studied.