Interviews

Question 1

structured interview

Answer 1

-standardised interview
-same questions,same order and tone

Question 2

unstructured

Answer 2

-freedom to vary question
-asking follow up questions and probing depper
-guided conversation

Question 3

semi-structured

Answer 3

• some formal and informal
  -additional questions can be asked where the interviewer thinks its relevant

Question 4

group interviews

Answer 4

willis- group interviews in his ‘lads’ study about schooling
-focus groups are under the ‘group interview’ type of research

Question 5

practical issues- structured

Answer 5

-training interviewers is inexpensive however its more costly than posting or emailing questionnaires to people
-covers a large amount of people however not nearly as much as postal questionnaires
-gather factual information like age or job
-easily quantified results so suitable for hypothesis testing

Question 6

response rate- structured

Answer 6

-high response rate e.g. Young and Willmott sample had 54 refuse out of 987, this increases representativeness and generalisability
- call backs increase response rate but may be expensive
- like questionnaires people are less willing to respond which produces unrepresentative data and undermine the validty of the generalisations

Question 7

reliability- structured

Answer 7

• easy to standardise and control so its done precisely and therefore repeatable
  -provide a ‘recipe’ for repeating the research so we can compare answers easily to identify similarities/differences

Question 8

validity- strcutred

Answer 8

• strctured interviews have close ended questions that restrict open ended answers
• gives interviewers little freedom to explain questions or clarify misunderstandings
• some may lie or exaggerate- false data
  -interaction may influence answer e.g. gender and ethnic differences can affect answers ( social desirability effect)

Question 9

Inflexibility

Answer 9

• the researcher has already chose whats important as opposed to the interviewees opinions
• lacks validity because it doesnt reflect the interviewees concerns
  -impossible to have leads with pre set questions, losing valuable insights
• merely snapshots of one moment in time unlike a observation

Question 10

feminist criticism

Answer 10

graham- questionnaires and structured interviews are patriarchal and invalidate womens experience

Question 11

Grahams argument

Answer 11

• the researchers in charge, mirroring womens subbordination in wider society
  -survey methods treat women as isolated individuals rather than in the context of power that oppresses them
  -imposes researchers categories on women, concealing the unequal power relationships between the exes

Question 12

feminist preferred method

Answer 12

observation/ unstructured interviews

Question 13

rapport and sensitivity- unstructured interviews

Answer 13

• develops a rapport with the interviewee so they can open up

Question 14

Labov- language of Black American Children

Answer 14

found they appeared ‘linguistically deprived’ when using formal interview technique however with an informal style they spoke freely and openly, showing they were competent speakers

Question 15

Dobash and Dobash

Answer 15

used unstructured interview for studying sensitive topics like Domestic violence using the empathy and encouragement from the interviewer.

Question 16

the interviewees view

Answer 16

-allows the interviewees to speak about important things— gives true insight and validity
-interviewers probing can help formulate and develop thoughts
-getting to know a stranger is better to use unstructured

Question 17

checking and understanding

Answer 17

-if the question is not understood, it can be explained
-follow up questions help unsure answers for the interviewer

Question 18

flexibility

Answer 18

-formulates new ideas and hypothesis
-highly flexible

Question 19

exploring unfamiliar topics

Answer 19

• we can start out by knowing nothing and then learn as we go along
  -sociologists use unstructured interviews to develop ideas and then use structured

Question 20

disadvantages- practical

Answer 20

time and sample size- takes long time to conduct so limits the sample and therefore is less representative

training- costly and needs to be a sociological professional

interpersonal skills- need this skill to establish a RAPPORT for honesty

Question 21

less representativeness

Answer 21

leads to less valid
generalisations

Question 22

quantification

Answer 22

-cannot be precoded or quantified therefore making it less useful to find cause and effect relationships and hypothesis testing that positivists prefer

Question 23

validity

Answer 23

the interaction distorts information obtained

Question 24

Interview as a social interaction
Interview bias

Answer 24

-‘leading’ questions- e.g.” Wouldnt you agree..?”. This is less common in structured interviews
-influence in facial expressions,body language or tone of voice
- Oakley found it difficult to remain detached when interviewing women about maternity/childbirth

Question 25

artificiality

Answer 25

• both parties know its a interview
  -under these artificial setting its doubtful whether truthful answers can be obtained

Question 26

status and power inequality

Answer 26

-inequalities affect honesty and thus decreasing validity
-Rich, children please adult interviewers and change answers
-gender differences (Graham)

Question 27

cultural differences

Answer 27

-misunderstandings over the meaning of words
- the cultural gap means that interviews cannot tell when they are being lied to

Question 28

the social desirability effect

Answer 28

• people seek for approval and to be in a ‘favourable light’
• might not want to seem uninterested so force answers instead of saying ‘idk’

Question 29

ethical issues

Answer 29

-pressure because its an interaction
-researchers should get consent and gurarantee anonymity
-interviews with sensitive topics may cause psychological harm

Question 30

improving the validity of interviews

Answer 30

researcherss use techniques to improve the chances of obtaining valid data

Question 31

Kinsey

Answer 31

interviews on secual behaviour asked rapid questions giving them little time to think and had a follow up interview 18 month later to compare answers

Question 32

Becker

Answer 32

in his 60 chicago interviews he ‘playing dumb’ as a way to extract sensitive information about social class and ethnic division.
- This requires a professional and is hard to replicate

Question 33

cultural differences- Nazroo

Answer 33

survey of the health of Britains ethnic minorities were carried in the language of the interviewees choice