Interviews

Question 1

What should we bear in mind when designing interviews?

Answer 1

1. Questions should not be ambiguous
2. Questions should not include multiple questions within them
3. Questions should not have unecessarily complicated language

Ensuring PPs understand questions leads to better data

Question 2

What is and are the strengths and weaknesses of structured interviews?

Answer 2

Questions are predetermined and standardised, researchers can’t ask follow up questions

PRO: Doesn’t require skill or training to conduct, researcher just asks list of standardised questions and doesn’t need any questioning skills
CON: Responses lack detail, if PP says something of interest to resrearcher they don’t have liberty to ask follow up questions to find out more decreasing validity

Question 3

What is and are the strengths and weaknesses of unstructured interviews?

Answer 3

Researcher begins with a set starting question/theme/topic in mind. Each PP has a various set of questions and researchers ask questions based on PP responses.

PRO: Provides in depth detail - if PP says something interesting researcher can ask a follow up question to extract relevant information thus increasing validity
CON: Requires a lot of skill and training as researcher needs to be able to ask good follow up questionsthat target info well in a non-leading way. Training staff may have a monetary and time impact

Question 4

What are the overall strengths and weaknesses of interviews?

Answer 4

PRO: Compared to questionnaires, have less likelihood of misunderstanding questions as researcher is present to clarify any misunderstandings PPs may have thus increasing validity
CONS:
- More time consuming than questionnaires as researcher has to be present and directly question PPs to record their responses. This takes more effort to conduct
- PPs may lie about true thoughts/behaviour to create positive impression on researcher - social desirability. This leads to false data thus decreasing validity