interviews

Question 1

what is a structured interview?

Answer 1

each interview is conducted in the same standardised way, asking each interviewee the same questions in the same order

Question 2

what is an unstructured interview?

Answer 2

interviewer has complete freedom to vary questions (wording and order) and may explain some questions, obtaining in-depth questions

Question 3

what is a semi-structured interview?

Answer 3

each interview has the same set of questions but interviewer may also ask follow-up questions for more information

Question 4

what is a group interview?

Answer 4

a dozen or so people interviewed together

Question 5

what are some practical issues of structured interviews?

Answer 5

quick and cheap
can obtain lots of information from a lot of people
results are easily quantified
inflexible

Question 6

what are some theoretical issues of structured interviews?

Answer 6

easy to replicate results and is therefore reliable
able to gain a lot of information and is therefore representative

Question 7

what are some some practical issues of unstructured interviews?

Answer 7

informality allows researcher to develop a rapport and gain more information
training needs to be thorough
may take a long time
can produce a lot of data
flexible

Question 8

what are some theoretical issues of unstructured interviews?

Answer 8

valid data because the interviewer can understand
impossible to recreate same results
sample sizes may be smaller and possibly unrepresentative