I'm using very unstructured 'narrative' interviews - basically one question, along the lines of 'tell me about your experiences of.....'. Then i might do a couple of follow-up questions, but only based on what they've told me i.e. I'm not introducing anything new, as I'm looking at how their 'stories' are constructed, what the participants see as 'significant' in their stories, and how their selfhood is constructed, using the idea that we form a self of sense through the use of narrative.
It all sounds interesting in theory, but because i've never used this method before, as a method of data collection nor narrative analysis, I've no idea whether its 'enough'. I'd ask my supervisors, but theyre all on holiday now til October!

I guess it depends on you subject, but in the social sciences it probably doesnt pay to be too clear on your 'exact topic' at this stage - Im still not sure that i know my 'exact topic' even a year in! It might be more productive to focus on your 'general area' when approaching departments - you can refine it towards your exact topic during the course of the first year, as in my experience thats what the first year is all about.

Hello
At the end of my first year, I have just started my qualitative interviews (hurrah!). However, although ive only done a couple, im a bit concerned as they only seem to be lasting about 20 minutes. i feel like ive covered what i need to, and i cant wring people dry if they have nothing further to say...or can I?
Probably an odd question, but is there some sort of accepted length of a qualitative interview for a PhD??? Would 20 minutes per participant (and im suggesting only 20 participants) be enough? Any thoughts???