Tag: qualitative sociology

New Publication: “The Problem with Rapport in Interview-Based Studies”

On By Jessica UrzúaIn Announcements, PublicationsLeave a comment

Rao, Aliya Hamid. 2026. “The Problem with Rapport in Interview-Based Studies.” Qualitative Sociology.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11133-025-09619-8

Abstract: Rapport is an orienting principle in qualitative research. It is a capacious concept which, in practice, is deployed by researchers in a wide variety of ways. Despite its definitional ambiguity, in interview-based studies, researchers often link rapport to obtaining more open and honest – and thus high-quality – data. While rapport has been critiqued in the ethnographic tradition, these critiques have not extended to the particularities of interview-based studies. I offer two critiques of rapport as an orienting principle in interview-based studies. First, I question the assumption that rapport is an unmitigated methodological positive and consider instances when it may not be particularly useful or may even be detrimental to data collection. Second, I argue that the privileged position rapport occupies as an ideal-type of researcher-participant relationship risks foreclosing other types of researcher-participant relationships. The overemphasis on rapport may serve to harm data transparency and epistemic accountability. I argue for de-centering rapport as an orienting principle for interview-based studies.

Author:

Aliya Hamid Rao is an Associate Professor at the London School of Economics (Department of Methodology).

New Publication: “From Accountability to Algorithms: Interorganizational Learning and the Transformation of Quantification in Education” by Jose Eos Trinidad

On By Neha JangetiIn Announcements, PublicationsLeave a comment

Trinidad, Jose Eos. 2025. “From Accountability to Algorithms: Interorganizational Learning and the Transformation of Quantification in Education.” Qualitative Sociology (online first).

Abstract: While studies often explore the intended and unintended consequences of technologies, few have theorized how and why they change. One crucial transformation in quantitative technologies is the shift from evaluative accountability to predictive algorithms, such as in schools that use dropout prediction systems. Using the case of ninth-grade early warning indicators, I argue that the transformation of quantification resulted from interorganizational learning, or the acquisition of new knowledge through the interaction of different organizations. In particular, I show how technology changes gradually from organization-level evaluation to individual-based prediction to systems-focused improvement. Pivotal to such changes were new forms of knowledge that emerged (1) as “instructing” organizations directed changes and “receiving” organizations resisted them; (2) as organizations in various fields reciprocally collaborated; and (3) as similar organizations practiced networked learning. Although studies have traditionally highlighted the “discipline” of technologies, I illustrate the power of organizational agents to resist, adapt, and change them—with implications for the study of quantification, work, institutional change, and education.

New Publication: “Sousveillance Work: Monitoring and Managing-Up in Patrimonial Hollywood” by Julia M. Dessauer

On By Neha JangetiIn PublicationsLeave a comment

Dessauer, J.M. Sousveillance Work: Monitoring and Managing-Up in Patrimonial Hollywood. Qual Sociol (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11133-024-09580-y

Abstract: How do workers come to know what their bosses need and want? This paper shows how laborers in patrimonial work environments learn to serve their bosses through bottom-up observation, rather than top-down instruction. The author uses the case of assistants in Hollywood to introduce the concept of sousveillance work, which is the labor of monitoring, anticipating, and fulfilling a boss’s mutable needs and wants. Drawing on 60 + interviews with professionals in Hollywood, the author reveals how sousveillance work helps assistants manage-up and mitigate volatility wrought by their patrimonial superiors. The concept of sousveillance work adds to research on labor and uncertainty in creative industries, and also helps to reveal how patrimonial systems are sustained in contemporary work environments.