“Am I doing it right?”: Older widows as interview participants in qualitative research

This article explores older widows' strategies as participants in qualitative interviews. Older women often do not think that their experiences are of value to others, and their comments reflect this belief. In addition, they attempt to transform the interview into a social occasion. Their strategies include asking whether or not they are doing a good job as research participants, suggesting that their talk may be unimportant, uttering concerns that their stories might be too negative, and altering the social context by taking on the role of hostess during the interview. There is much to be learned from interviewing members of stigmatized groups whose voices are often silent or ignored both by researchers and society in general and from an awareness of the uncertainty with which they approach the research encounter.