THE LIFE STORY AS INTERVIEW: RESEARCHING THE TRAJECTORIES OF OUT OF FAMILY CHILDREN IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Written by Rita BICHI on 15 June 2007. Posted in Special issue: Qualitative Research In Psychosocial Sciences, Guest Editor: Adriana BĂBAN, Volume XI, Nr. 2

ABSTRACT

This study discusses the properties of individual interviews for social research ï¿½ identifying them in development, standardization, structuring, and the functions of the interview outline ï¿½ and proposes a typology comprising the questionnaire, semi-structured interviews (understood as a diversified set of survey instruments) and non-directive interviews, these being classified as rï¿½cits de vie and life stories. It then provides an example of the application of these latter to a specific object of research ï¿½ the life stories of out-of-family children in Bosnia and Herzegovina ï¿½ and sets out some of the main results.

KEYWORDS: life stories, non-directiveness, out of family children, grounded theory.