2.5 RESEARCH METHODS: INTERVIEWS

Question 1

what are structured/ formal interviews ?

Answer 1

• has pre-determined questions
  -it’s standardized
  -easy to compare and highly reliable (uses same qs)

Question 2

what are unstructured/ informal interviews?

Answer 2

-more like a conversation= time consuming
-no set questions so free to ask anything
-less formal and more detailed so has high validity

Question 3

what are semi-structured interviews?

Answer 3

-can have set questions but can ask follow-ups

Question 4

what are group interviews?

Answer 4

-interviewing more than one person at once
-can get many responses as people are more likely to answer
-there can be pressure to answer in group setting (peer pressure)

Question 5

what are the practical issues of structured interviews?
(strengths and weaknesses)

Answer 5

-strengths:
-higher sample size (more representative)
- has quantifiable data
-highly reliable

-weaknesses:
-training interviewers (cost more than questionnaires)
-not as quick as other methods.

Question 6

what is the response rate?
(strengths and weaknesses)

Answer 6

-strengths:
-sample size can be large (representative)
- high response rate as it is hard to turn down a face to face request
- Willmott and Young approached 987, only 57 refused.

-weaknesses:
-only 4.5 % response rate
-but those with time to be interviewed may be untypical, thus creating unrepresentative data

Question 7

what are validity disadvantages?
(structured interviews)

Answer 7

• Restrict interviewees’ answers
• Little freedom to explain questions or clarify misunderstandings
• People can lie or exaggerate
• Social interaction, the interviewer might influence responses.

Question 8

what are Feminist criticisms?
(structured interviews)

Answer 8

• Hilary Graham (1983) claim structured interviews are patriarchal and don’t represent the women’s experience:
• Researcher is in control mirroring women’s sociotal subordination
• Treat women as isolated individuals rather than in their oppressive power relationships

Question 9

what are other Feminist criticisms?
(structured interviews)

Answer 9

• Similar to interpretivisit criticisms, they fail to show how an individual sees their situation
• Graham advocates for direct observation
• Other feminists prefer unstructured interviews

Question 10

what are Inflexability disadvantages?

Answer 10

• The format has to be drawn up in advance, what is important has already been decided
• Interesting leads cannot be pursued
• Only snapshots of time

Question 11

what are Unstructured interviews?

Answer 11

• Guided conversation
• Complete freedom for variation

Question 12

Unstructured interviews - what is Rapport and sensitivity?

Answer 12

• Informality = building repport
• e.g. William Labov (1973) studied language of black American children, in formal structured interviews they seemed tongue tied but in a more casual unstructured interview they seemed completely different
• Very useful for sensitive subjects, e.g. Dobash and Dobash on domestic violence

Question 13

Unstructured interviews - what is the interviewee’s view?

Answer 13

• Intervieee can talk about what they find important
• interviewers probing helps develop more clear responses
• Dean and Taylor-Gooby (1992) said “additional questions or prompts were used unstructured at the interviewer’s discretion to clarify or develop themes as they emerged”

Question 14

Unstructured interviews - what are more advantages?

Answer 14

• can check understanding (interviewer can check question has been understood and clarify answers)
• highly Flexible (explore more areas and questions w/o needing to re-do the interview)
• can explore unfamiliar topics- in structured interviews requires interviewer to have prior knowledge (to know what to ask)
  -unstructured interviews allow more scope to explore where research is lacking)

Question 15

Unstructured interviews - what are Practical issues?

Answer 15

• Time consuming
• Interviewees need training = more costly
• Interpersonal skills needed in interviewers

Question 16

Unstructured interviews - what is the representativeness?

Answer 16

-unrepresentative (small sample size)-> unable to quantify results
-making it less suitable for causation relationships, comparison and hypothesis testing

Question 17

Unstructured interviews - what is the reliability?

Answer 17

-LOW RELIABILITY
-virtually impossible to replicate the same interview twice so you can’t compare findings

Question 18

Unstructured interviews - what is the quantification?

Answer 18

-answers are very hard to quantify due to lack of coding]
-can’t establish cause and effect
-less effective (positivists prefer structured)

Question 19

Unstructured interviews - what is the validity?

Answer 19

-the interaction between interviewer and interviewee may effect the validity (can distort information)
-data should be more valid but the interaction may have a negative impact.

Question 20

what is Interviewer bias?

Answer 20

• Interviewers may as leading questions - Can consciously or unconsciously influence answers with facial expressions, body language or tone of voice
• May occur if interviewers identify too closely to interviewee
  eg Oakley, as a mother, finds it hard to be neutral when interviewing women about motherhood

Question 21

what is Artificiality?

Answer 21

-even if an interview is unstructured it’s still not a conversation, one side is asking questions and under such artificial circumstances there is no way to know how truthful the interviewee is

Question 22

what are Status and power inequalities?

Answer 22

• Inequalities between interviewer and interviewee may effect honesty and willingness to answer
• the bigger the status difference the less valid the data becomes
• Rich (1962) showed children tend to want to please adults when being interviewed by them
  Gender differences in power and ethnic inequalities also make interviews more difficult
• Griffin (1962) abandoned interviews in favour for ppt observation

Question 23

what are Cultural differences?

Answer 23

• Can undermine validity
• Misunderstandings because of words having different meanings
• Interviewers cannot tell they’re being lied to
• Mead (1943) did research on adolescents in Samoa and was unable to tell the young girls deliberately misleading her

Question 24

what is The social desirability effect?

Answer 24

• People want approval
• Interviewees want to present themselves in the best light
• If they don’t understand they may not say so and answer anyway

Question 25

what are Ethical issues?

Answer 25

• fewer ethical issues
• Interviewees may still feel pressure to answer
• Interviewers need consent, establish anonymity and allow interviewees to not answer if they wish
• Sensitive topics may also cause psychological harm

Question 26

Improving validity - Kinsey (1953)

Answer 26

-Kinsey when researching sexual behaviour asked questions rapidly to give interviewees little time to think and avoid lies.

Question 27

Improving validity - Becker (1971)

Answer 27

• interviewed 60 Chicargo schoolteachers and used aggression, disbelief and ‘playing dumb’ in order to resieve sensitive information that they may have concealed otherwise. Such information was about how teachers classified pupils in terms of social class and ethnic background
• Researcher needs special skills for this
• Hard to replicate

Question 28

Improving validity - Nazroo (1997)

Answer 28

– To overcome the problem of cultural differences, interviewers and interviewees can be ethnically or language matched
- Nazroo’s survey of the health of Britain’s ethnic minorities included interviews in the language of the interviewee’s choice

Question 29

what are practical issues when using interviews to research young people in education?

Answer 29

-lack of understanding
-attention span is short

Question 30

why are structured interviews likely to produce reliable data and less likely to produce valid data?

Answer 30

-it’s standardized
-participant less likely to be honest and just give interviewer what they want to hear
-Bentley- need to appear more relaxed and warmer to ensure responses aren’t affected.

Question 31

what are some problems of gaining access to pupils and teachers?

Answer 31

-Powney and Watts- lower status interviewees need more approval from gatekeepers e.g. SLT, teachers, parents
-causes disruption to education and exposes young children to sensitive topics (vulnerability)
-parental permission is required- Field (1987) 29% parents refused

Question 32

what is the interviewer as “teacher in disguise”

Answer 32

-there is a clear inequality in power between adults and young people e.g. Ball: pupils may see interviewer as teacher in disguise
-student could lie and change answers to feel approved
-w/c parents feel patronized/ made inferior by m/c researchers

Question 33

what are 5 ways to improve validity with pupils?

Answer 33

-GREENE AND HOGAN:
-use open-ended questions
-don’t interrupt
-tolerate long responses
-recognize suggestibility of children
-avoid repeating qs (suggest first answer was wrong)

Question 34

what are advantages and disadvantages of group interviews?

Answer 34

-adv: - Certain individuals may dominate the discussion
- depends on the researcher’s ability to keep the group focused
-data from group interaction is complex and difficult to analyse
-peer pressure

-disadv: - Interviewers may as leading questions - Can consciously or unconsciously influence answers with facial expressions, body language or tone of voice
- May occur if interviewers identify too closely to interviewee
(eg Oakley, as a mother, finds it hard to be neutral when interviewing women about motherhood)