Ce(lles) que la visioconférence rend visible(s)

Abstract

Videoconference interviews have a bad reputation in social sciences, and are often criticized on the grounds that they would have negative effects on the quality of the data and the relationship between the interviewer and the interviewee (technical difficulties, emotional barrier, lack of contextual elements in the interview, etc.). The objective of this article is to question this preconception based on an interview survey conducted with women who are candidates for or have undergone bariatric surgery. I show that in this research context, videoconferencing has proven to be beneficial since it grants more control to the interviewees, which has the effect of reducing the asymmetry in the survey relationship, and of encouraging self-disclosure. The objective is less to promote video interviewing over traditional face-to-face interviewing than to ask in which contexts and with which populations this medium may be preferable to physical co-presence.

Keywords

• interview
• methodology
• videoconferencing
• Skype
• body
• obesity