Interviews

Question 1

structured interviews

practical disadvantage

Answer 1

Practical issues
- Training interviewers is cheaper but is more costly than simply posting a questionnaire

-Surveys can conduct large numbers but not as efficiently - less representative

Question 2

structured interviews

theoretical disadvantage - representative

Answer 2

Representative
- Those with time or willingness to be interviewed may be untypical → producing unrepresentative data undermining generalisability from the findings

• snapshots of one period in time – failure to capture nature of social life

Question 3

theoretical disadvantage- validity

Answer 3

Validity
- Produce a false picture of what they are trying to study

• Usually use closed questions that restrict interviewees from a limit number of pre-set questions
• people can lie or exaggerate

Question 4

structured interviews

practical advantages

Answer 4

• Able to gather suitable factual information
• Result are easily quantified as they use closed questions with coded answers → possible for hypothesis testing.

Question 5

Wilmott and young how many people did they approach for an interview and how many reused?

Answer 5

987 approached only 54 refused

Question 6

structured interviews

Theoretical - reliability

Answer 6

Reliability
-standardised questions – so can be replicated
- can have tight control

Question 7

unstructured interviews

practical advantages

Answer 7

• Able to gather suitable factual information
• Result are easily quantified as they use closed questions with coded answers → possible for hypothesis testing.

Question 8

unstructured interview

ethical advantages

Answer 8

When topic is unknown unstructured interviews more useful → open ended questions able to learn as you go along

Used as a starting point to develop initial ideas about a topic

Question 9

unstructured interviews

Theoretical advantages

Answer 9

Validity
- Allows for opportunity for interviewee to express what they feel is important → more likely to produce valid data

• interviewer’s probing can develop thoughts more clearly

Question 10

unstructured interviews

Practical disadvantages

Answer 10

Time and sample size → in depth explorations takes time limiting the amount of research able to be carried out → smaller sample size

Training → needs to be more thorough needing to have a sociology background to be able to recognise important points → costly

Interpersonal skills → needs to be able to establish comfortable environment

Question 11

unstructured interviews

Ethical disadvantages

Answer 11

May delve to deep and be intrusive to interviewer

Revealing information in a group may be distressing

Anonymity and confidentiality of response needs to be maintained

Question 12

positivists view point

Answer 12

Positivists - favours structured as achieves goals of reliability/ generalisability / representativeness
* Standardised allows for replicability ( reliable)
* Pre coded data allows quantitative data → cause and effect relationship
* Large scale - more representative

Question 13

interpretivists viewpoint

Answer 13

Interpretivists - reject structured as imposes interviewers framework onto interviewees ( favour unstructured as)
* Absence of a pre-set structure → able to discuss own views
* Open ended questions → express themselves in own words