Remote interviewing during a global pandemic. A Methodological reflection on an ICT mediated qualitative study implemented during Covid-19 confinement periods

The chapter proposes a meta-reflection on the critical aspects of implementing qualitative research mediated by the use of ICT among a group of Italian solo self-employed workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, it focuses on how ICT-mediated research techniques can represent an opportunity to engage in a broader reflection on the research encounter, questioning the power imbalance between researcher/observer and social actor/observed. By considering “remote working” and “remote interviewing” as two sides of the same coin, it analyzes first the impact of remote working on the interviewed self-employed workers and then the impact of the remote interviewing on data collection and results from interpretation. Finally, it focuses on how technology-mediated communication could be helpful in exploring and making explicit the tension between the research questions and the experience of being interviewed, the power shifts between the observer and the observed, and the emotional labor inherent in the research encounter.