evaluate group interviews (20)

Question 1

intro

Answer 1

-interviews can either be conducted one-to-one (individual interview) or in a group, where the interviewer interviews 2 or more respondents at the same time
-focus groups are a type of group interview in which respondents are asked to discuss certain topics

Question 2

practical (strength)

Answer 2

-the practicality of a research method refers to how easy it is to conduct, looking at access to locations, funding, time, and ppts
-group interviews are highly practical as less researchers are needed and it is very cost and time effective to interview multiple people at once

Question 3

ethical (strength)

Answer 3

-the BSA issues a “statements of ethical conduct” which encourages researchers to consider factors such as harm, deception, privacy and confidentiality of the ppt. Ethical research must consider the impact the study may have on both the ppts and the researcher themselves
-group interviews can be considered highly ethical as having multiple ppts interviewed at the same time makes it much less intimidating than a one-on-one interview, which reduces the pressure and puts the respondents at ease

Question 4

theory (weakness)

Answer 4

-Positivism is an approach to sociological research based on social facts. They believe we shouldn’t go beyond the boundaries of what is observed and prefer quantitative methods of research because statistics are factual and measurable, allowing for comparisons between groups/the findings
-Positivists do not like group interviews as they gather qualitative data, which is not statistical and is up for interpretation, meaning it is not measurable. Group interviews may also be vulnerable to social desirability bias as the people in the group may agree with each other in order to not stand out, even if it is not what the actually believe, making the results invalid

Question 5

reliability (weakness)

Answer 5

-reliability refers to the repeatability of a study, so if the study were to be replicated it would produce the same results
-group interviews have low reliability as they cannot be repeated. This is because the group get given guided discussion points provided by the interviewer, but otherwise speak freely, and as everyone has different thoughts and ideas, no conversation will be the same between other groups, meaning it cannot be exactly replicated

Question 6

representativeness (weakness)

Answer 6

-representativeness is the extent to which a sample mirrors the researcher’s target population and reflects it’s characteristics
-group interviews are not very representative as they tend to represent a specific type of person. Even if the group is evenly representative of individual differences, it is likely that there will be a dominant member of the group who does a lot more talking than some of the quieter, more reserved members of the group, meaning that the findings lack representativeness

Question 7

validity (strength)

Answer 7

-the validity of a research method refers to how detailed and accurate the study’s results are
-group interviews are highly valid as they can draw out detailed responses, providing in-depth qualitative data which increases our understanding of the topic being researched, allowing for verstahen and increasing validity