interviews

Question 1

key studies - structured

Answer 1

Young and Wilmott - symmetrical families

Question 2

key studies - unstructured

Answer 2

venkatesh - gang leader for a day

willis - learning to labour

barket - making of a moonie

Question 3

practical strengths of structured interviews

Answer 3

response rates - better than questionnaires

time - quicker to conduct than unstructured

personal skills - less training and limited interpersonal skills

Question 4

practical limitations of structured interviews

Answer 4

time - more time consuming than questionnaires if sample group is large

Question 5

ethical strengths of structured interviews

Answer 5

informed consent and privacy

Question 6

ethical limitations of structured interviews

Answer 6

morality / criminality

danger

informed consent

invasion of privacy

Question 7

theoretical strengths of structured interviews

Answer 7

interviewer effect - more formal so less interviewer bias

reliability

comparability

generalisability

quantitative data

Question 8

theoretical limitations of structured interviews

Answer 8

interviewer effect - than questionnaires - social desirability effect

interviewer bias

validity - superficial, cannot clarify questions

inflexibility

Question 9

practical strengths of semi-structured interviews

Answer 9

time - longer than structured but quick for qualitative data

Question 10

practical limitations of semi-structured interviews

Answer 10

time - more then questionnaire if sample too large

Question 11

ethical strengths of semi-structured interviews

Answer 11

appropriate for sensitive topics - adapt the questions based on responses

Question 12

theoretical strengths of semi-structured interviews

Answer 12

validity - depth and detail

triangulation - often used to develop questionnaires

quantitative data

Question 13

theoretical limitations of semi-structured interviews

Answer 13

reliability - harder to be repeated, less comparable, difficult to quantify

limited flexibility

Question 14

practical strengths of unstructured interviews

Answer 14

rapport - useful for access to sensitive groups and sensitive topics

Question 15

practical limitations of unstructured interviews

Answer 15

time consuming

personal skills

requires sociological knowledge to ask questions - issue if not sociologist but professional interviewer

Question 16

ethical strengths of unstructured interviews

Answer 16

appropriate for sensitive topics due to flexibility

Question 17

ethical limitations of unstructured interviews

Answer 17

confidentiality - research publications often question - anonymity may be compromised

Question 18

theoretical strengths of unstructured interviews

Answer 18

flexibility - higher validity for interpretivists

honesty - rapport - validity

in-depth - probe further questions

Question 19

theoretical limitations of unstructured interviews

Answer 19

representativeness - time-consuming so smaller sample

qualitative data - difficult to quantify answers so more difficult to analyse all interview together

low reliability - different interviewers get different responses

low comparability

validity - positivists argue lower validity than structured interviews - social desirability effect and interviewer effect

Question 20

practical strengths of group interviews

Answer 20

cost / time - several options for price and time of one interviewer

Question 21

practical limitations of group interviews

Answer 21

time - can limit sample size

personal skills

sociological knowledge

Question 22

ethical strengths of group interviews

Answer 22

appropriate for sensitive topics - eg mental health due to informality of group setting

Question 23

ethical limitation of group interviews

Answer 23

social pressure - uncomfortable

Question 24

theoretical strength of group interviews

Answer 24

group interaction - good for exploring group dynamics and interactions - high validity

in-depth data - less-conscious in a group and so reveal more of their true opinions - high validity

Question 25

theoretical limitations of group interviews

Answer 25

validity - pressure - conformity - validity

validity - one or two individuals dominate discussion inhibiting others from contributing

reliability - cannot be repeated

representativeness - small numbers

Question 26

positivist perspective on interviews

Answer 26

favour structured interviews - reliable, objective and representative data

closed ended questionnaires - discovery of correlations and development of causal laws

unstructured interviews lack validity - respondent is affected by researcher and normally subjectively analysed

Question 27

interpretivists perspective on interviews

Answer 27

favour unstructured interviews as they provide in-depth information where, as rapport is built up, the real feelings and views of the respondent can be uncovered and discussed in depth

Question 28

feminist perspective on interviews

Answer 28

favour unstructured interviews - allow respondents to become an equal partner in discussion thereby removing the patriarchal power relationships