Structured interviews

What are structured interviews?

These are very similar to a questionnaire: the interviewer is given strict instructions on how to ask the questions. The interview is conducted in the same standardised way each time- asking each interviewee precisely the same questions- word for word in the same order.

What are unstructured interviews?

These are like a guided conversation. The interviewer has complete freedom to vary the questions, in their wording, order and so on from one interview to the next, pursuing whatever line of questioning seems appropriate at the time.

What are semi-structured interviews?

This lies between two extremes. Each interview has the same set of questions in common, but the interviewer can also probe for more information.

What are group interveiws?

Most interviews are one-to-one, but some are group interviews, with up to a dozen or so people being interviewed together. Willis used this in his 'lads' and schooling- on anti-school subcultures among white working class boys.

What is the positivist views of using structured interviews?

They favour structured interviews because they achieve the main positivist goals of reliability, generalisability and representativeness: standardised questions and answers produce reliable data because other researchers can replicate their interview.

Pre-coded responses allow us to produce quantitative data, identify and measure behaviour patterns, and establish cause and effect relationships.

What is the interpretivist view of using structured interviews?

They reject structured interviews because they impose the researcher's framework of ideas on the interviewees. They favour unstructured interviews because they achieve the main interpretivist goal of validity: absence of a pre-set structure means interviewees can discuss what is important to them. Open ended questions allow interviewees to express themselves in their own words.

What does the acronym P.E.T stand for?

Practical, ethical and theoretical issues

What are some practical (time, money and access to participants) advantages of structured interviews?

-Training interviewers is relatively straightforward and inexpensive, since all they are really required to do is follow a set of questions.

-Surveys that use structured interviews can cover quite large numbers of people with relatively limited resources because they are quick and fairly cheap to administer.

What are some ethical (deception, right to withdraw and protection from harm) advantages of structured interviews?

-Deception: it is hard to deceive an interviewer/interviewee as there is no room for follow-up questions or the ability to develop or expand answers.

-Not time consuming

-Protection from harm: standardised procedure so lack of sensitivity with follow-up questions.

What are some theoretical (quantitative or qualitative, positivist/interpretivist) advantages of structured interviews?

-Structured interviews are more reliable because it is easier for the researcher to standardise and control them- they are easier to replicate.

-The fact that all interviewees are asked exactly the same questions also means that we can compare their answers easily to identify similarities and differences.

What are some practical disadvantages of structured interviews?

-More costly than simply posting or emailing questionnaires to people.

-They cannot match the potentially huge numbers reached by postal questionnaires.

What are some ethical disadvantages of structured interviews?

-No room for follow-up questions-less validity- not an accurate picture of society or the interviewees responses.

What are some theoretical disadvantages of structured interviews?

-Structured interviews usually use close-ended questions that restrict interviewees to choosing from a limited number of pre-set answers.

-Structured interviews give interviewers very little freedom to explain questions or clarify misunderstandings.

What were the strengths and weaknesses of Young and Wilmott's study?

Strengths:

- Standardised and formal procedure- this allowed them to collect quantitative data on family roles, domestic work, and kinship ties.

- Their approach made their findings more reliable and easier to compare across different families.

Weaknesses:

- More costly and time consuming for the researcher.