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An Interviewer's Guide to Autobiographical Memory: Ways to Elicit Concrete Experiences and to Avoid Pitfalls in Interpreting Them

Methodological recommendations for qualitative interviewing, that is, using semi-structured conversations for research purposes, often suggest that interviewers ask respondents to describe concrete experiences. Concrete experiences from the past, however, are autobiographical memories (specific memories), and as such the interviewer may benefit from having knowledge of research on specific memories. While descriptions of specific memories potentially provide the interviewer with access to rich layers of experience, there are also some possible limitations in asking for and interpreting specific memories. First, specific memories do not correspond perfectly to the original experience, and the associated thoughts, emotions, and meanings may change over time. Thus, interviewers should be aware that specific memories reflect re-interpreted versions of the original experience. Second, specific memories are not representative of experiences more generally; they are retained as specific memories exactly because the experiences they refer to were perceived as novel, emotionally intense, and/or important. Thus, interviewers need to be careful when attempting to generalize from contents or themes in specific memories. Lastly, given these limitations, we suggest some strategies that interviewers may find useful when asking for and interpreting specific memories, that is, concrete experiences.