Language and cultural challenges in conducting interviews in a foreign country and potential solutions

Fang Lee Cooke

Chapter 4 in Handbook for Qualitative Research in Emerging Markets, 2025, pp 40-55 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter identifies several challenges I have encountered in my fieldwork in Sri Lanka, including access to interviewees, language and cultural barriers, a power imbalance between the researcher and the interviewee, and the resultant quality of the data. Language and cultural barriers can be intertwined because languages are used in their socio-cultural context. This situation is sometimes further complicated by the perceived higher social status of the researcher, even when the interviewer and interviewee share a similar culture and are of the same gender. To mitigate these challenges, I suggest potential solutions. Although some of the challenges may not be readily overcome, I draw researchers’ attention to the value of using secondary on-site data to supplement and triangulate interview data, for example, billboards inside factories. I argue that even when a specific project fails to achieve the intended objectives, the data collected and the intellectual and empirical insights generated from it can form part of a research agenda that can be developed further.

Keywords: Business and Management; Development Studies; Economics and Finance; Research Methods; Sociology and Social Policy; Sustainable Development Goals (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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