Fontana (2001:161) remarks that postmodern epistemologies swayed interviewing to the extent of an "interview society". No longer is interviewing reserved to researchers and investigators, but became part of everyday life: members of society devote much time to asking questions, being asked or to watch television shows about various kinds of people being asked questions. It is as if interviewing became common practice, with no need for instruction. Postmodern interviewing sensibilities include:
- Boundaries between interviewer-and-interviewee became blurred.
- The form of communication is collaborating in constructing the narrative.
- Interviewers are concerned about representation: "whose story are we telling and for what reason" (p. 162).
- Respondents are no longer faceless numbers without any say about analysis or interpretation; instead there is a concern about the understanding of respondents.
- Former unarticulated voices are currently on the fore front.
- Forms of reporting findings expanded to literature, poetry and drama.
- Interviewing itself expanded to audio-visual and electronic modes, such as e-mail and social media.
Fontana, A. 2001. Postmodern trends in interviewing. In Gubrium, J.F. & Holstein, A. (Eds) 2001. Handbook of interview research, context and method. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
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