interviews

Question 1

structured / formal interviews

Answer 1

strict questions to ask, interview consducted in the same way every time same questions word for word ,same order same tone

Question 2

unstructured/ informal interviews

Answer 2

like conversations .
interviewer has freedom to cary questions, pursuing whatever line of questions seems appealing asking follow up questions

Question 3

semi structured interviews

Answer 3

same set of questions in common but researcher can prove for more information

Question 4

cicourel and Kitsuse - semi structured

Answer 4

always followed up questions with what do you mean?
as a way of gaining more information

Question 5

group interviews -Willis

Answer 5

used that for lads and schooling with focus groups to discuss certain topics

Question 6

practical issues ; structured interviews

Answer 6

• training interviewers is straightforward + inexpensive however this is more costly than questionnaires that do not involve interactions
• cover large numbers of people with relatively little resources because quick + easy, however cannot match the large numbers of postal questionnaires

Question 7

practical advantages of surcutred interviews

Answer 7

• structure interviews suitable for gathering straightforward large info
• easily quantified, suitable for hypothesis testing

Question 8

the response rate of structured interviews

Answer 8

large numbers of people can be surveyed increases chances of generalisability

Question 9

young and willlmott : the response the rate

Answer 9

from 987 participants chosen, 54 refused to be interviewed, people may find it harder to have a face to face opportunity to talk

Question 10

how to increase response rates

Answer 10

making several calls back to those who fail to respond for a more representable response

Question 11

how can structured interviews be representable

Answer 11

lonely people with time on their hands are attracted whereas busy people will not reply so cannot make generalization of the true population

Question 12

reliability and structured intreviews

Answer 12

reliable, it is easy to replicate and standarise the research in precisely the same way, order tone….
if this is done the answers of the questions will not be influenced and so the same so its easy to identity any differences or similarities

Question 13

validity and structured interviews

Answer 13

• close ended questions, so there is a limited set of answers to chose from which may not represent the true feeling + though of the participant - invalid
• very little freedom to explain answers, if participant doesn’t understand the participant must move on to the next question
• people may exaggerate. false data produced
• personal characteristics of the interviewer may influence the answer of the participant

Question 14

inflexibility and structured interviews

Answer 14

research must decide what is important and finalise it, but if new interest comes up they cannot explore it
this means that it can lack validity, it does not measure researchers true questions

• they fail to capture the flowing, dynamic nature of life as it is only for one period of society .
  cannot measure social phenomena of diff times

Question 15

feminist criticism of structured interviews according to this sociologist

Answer 15

Graham argues that these interviews give a distorted, invalid picture of women’s experience

• men are in charge of research and so line of questioning is followed. represents womens subordination in wider society
• survey methods treat women as isolated individuals in society making it difficult to express the oppression in the power of institutions
• researcher may not be interested in the female oppression, it is difficult to voice the oppression they receive

these questions do not represent womens behaviour, attitudes because they may not even be explored

Question 16

why may some feminists like structured interviews

Answer 16

enables researcher to build a more equal + colleberative relationship

Question 17

rapport and senstivity - advantages if unctructred interviews

Answer 17

allows rapport to be built, buts the interviewee at ease so they answer more correctly + give more knowledge of experience.
enocurages a more formal interview

Question 18

Labov and unstructured interviews (rapport)

Answer 18

using formal method to test he language of black american children
Labov found that they were linguistically deprived, however having a more relaxed style , interviewer sitting on the floor children opened up + spoke freely shpwing they are competent speakers

Question 19

uncsturctued interviews good at what tpye of reseach topics

Answer 19

sensitive topics e.g Dobash + Dobash used them to study DV
empathy + encouragement of interviewer allowed them to be comfortable discussing sensitive topics ( rapport)

Question 20

the interviewers view - advantage of unstructured interviews

Answer 20

no set questions, questions not made up before hand so it is possible to be flexible and ask questions of a new interest with a participant to find a wag large in info that interactionists like
valid data prodcued

Question 21

Dean and Taylor - Gooby

Answer 21

used unstructured tape recorded interviews lasting up to 90 mins wit h85 people

questions were not put in set order, wording of Q’s adapted to fit circumstances of the respondent + situation additional Q’s + prompts used in interviewers discretion to clarify / develop themes

Question 22

the understanding of questions - advantages of unstructured interviews

Answer 22

Checking understanding is easy by the interaction of the researcher + person to check eachothers meaning
produced valid data
if question ont understoof it can be explained

follow up Q’s to check up theme

Question 23

flexibility and unstructured interviews advantages

Answer 23

they can be more flexible to to ask different
Q’s of what seems appropriate at the time

Question 24

exploring unfamiliar topics - advantages of structured interviews

Answer 24

a hypothesis before interviewing may be established
open ended questions can be asked and start to develop a new topic and go on to have structured interviews to test reliability of new hypothesis

Question 25

disadvantages of unstructured interviews - pratical problems

Answer 25

time + sample size -large quantity of data means that is is time consuming so that means that they need small scale samples- may not be generalisable

training - more thorough training as it needs skill to ask the right questions to keep the conversation flowing

interpersonal skills - must have good skills in building a rapport and making the participant comfortable

Question 26

representativeness - disadvantage of unstructured interviews

Answer 26

small scale samples means that it lacks the reflection of the wider population and so we cannot make generalisations

Question 27

reliability - disadvantage of unstructured interviews

Answer 27

– may not be reliable as it is not standarised, each participant has diff Q’s as it meets their personal experiences - its impossible to repeat questions + compare findings

Question 28

quantification - disadvantages of unstructured interviews

Answer 28

mainly open ended so data is difficult to quantify + standaridse

Question 29

validity - disadvantage of unstructured interviews

Answer 29

• generally aim to produce valid data - social desirability may cause participant to have diff answers that are not true

Question 30

interviewer bias in question asking

Answer 30

interviewer may ask leading Q’s that may also lead answers of participants
may consciously/ unconsciously influence the answer by facial expressions, body language, tone of voice

Question 31

Oakley and interviewer bias

Answer 31

Oakley admits that as a mother herself she found it hard to remain detached from the study

Question 32

Artificiality of interviews

Answer 32

not a normal situation, doubtful if true answers obtained

Question 33

status and power inequalities of interviews

Answer 33

interviewees honesty/ willingness to answer
bigger the status difference the less valid the data
gender differences causes interviewing to be more difficult

Question 34

status and power inequalities of interviews - Rich

Answer 34

when adults interview children children feel like they need to please the interviewer

Question 35

status and power inequalities of interviews - Griffin

Answer 35

gender differences made interviewing to be abandoned and use participant observation instead

Question 36

cultural differences in interviews

Answer 36

undermine validity e.g misunderstandings to the meanings of same words

Question 37

cultural differences in interviews - Mead

Answer 37

research on adolescents in Samoa in the western pacific had been criticised that mead couldnt speak the language, unable to spot that girls misunderstood

Question 38

the social desirability effect

Answer 38

people often seek for approval, may be on best behaviour that presents them in favorable light

Question 39

ethical issues and interviews

Answer 39

may feel pressure to answer some questions
informed consent should be given + anonymity guaranteed
reduce psychological harm

Question 40

improving the validity of interviews -Kinsey

Answer 40

questions on sexual behaviour, he asked questions rapidly, giving little thinking time.
- not very valid

Question 41

cultural differences in interviews - Becker, how did he gain sensitive answer from a sensitive topic

Answer 41

he used aggression approach, playing dumb, disbelief in extracting some sensitive information about what was ideal in ethnicity, gender and more

Question 42

how does Nazroo overcome the cultural differences of interviewees and interviewrs

Answer 42

makes sure that ethnicity and language are matched so that they were no personal characteristics affecting answers

Question 43

group interviews advantages + disadvantgaes

Answer 43

• participants may feel more comfortable + more likely to open up
• discussion stimulating ideas are thrown around, producing reflective data
• generating initial ideas that can form a hypothesis to be later investigated
• researcher combines Q’s with opportunity to observe the group
• 1 or 2 individuals may dominate discussion, inhibiting others from contributing
• depends on researchers ability to keep group focused on the discussion topic
• peer pressure of group to conform to answers - not reliable
• data is complex + difficult to analyse