This article contrasts a common conceptualization of the interview in applied linguistics, referred to as an "interview as research instrument" perspective, with an alternative, referred to as a "research interview as social practice" orientation. It illustrates implications of the two perspectives on interviews by contrasting a thematic analysis concerning a social category in circulation at a Hawai'i high school--"fresh off the boat"--with two analyses of interaction from interviews that the thematic analysis is in part based on. Juxtaposing these distinct conceptualizations of the research interview demonstrates how "themes" were occasioned and co-constructed, and identity was performed in this particular type of speech event.