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sociology research methods > Interviews > Flashcards

Interviews Flashcards

1
Q

Name the 4 types of interviews

A

Structured
unstructured
semi-structured
group

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2
Q

Define structured interviews

A

Structured interviews are a data collection method that involves a list of pre-determined questions that the interviewer reads out. They often produce quantitative data meaning that positivists prefer this research type.

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3
Q

What are Practical advantages of structured interviews

A
  • Fairly quick and cheap as you just read from a set list of questions. Means you can get a larger sample making them more representative
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4
Q

What is an ethical advantage of structured interviews

A
  • Informed consent- all the participants will have agreed to take part in the interviews as they would have had to travel to get there.
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5
Q

What is a theoretical advantage of structured interviews

A
  • High response rate - Willmott and young (1962) approached 987 people and only 54 refused to be interviewed
  • Reliable
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6
Q

What is a practical disadvantage of structured interviews

A

Inflexibility - the researcher cannot elaborate/ move away from the list of questions meaning they cannot find out reasons behind responses. Reduces validity

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7
Q

What is an ethical disadvantage of structured interviews

A

Protection from harm-
some questions might be a bit personal and so may cause psychological harm
interviewer cannot build a rapport with the participant so they may feel uncomfortable

Oakley (1982) - When researching motherhood, she found it difficult to remain detached when interviewing

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8
Q

What is a theoretical disadvantage of structured interviews

A
  • Validity - participants cannot elaborate on answers so there is little detail In the data
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9
Q

Define unstructured interviews

A

Unstructured interviews are a data collection method that involves no set questions. They are like a conversation and interviewer is free to ask follow up questions. Therefore they produce qualitative date meaning they are favoured by interpretivists

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10
Q

What is a practical advantage of using unstructured interviews

A

Flexible - more opportunity to find out more detailed information about the topic of research and into unfamiliar topics. They allow the researcher to develop new ideas as they arise.

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11
Q

What is a ethical advantage of using unstructured interviews

A

Rapport and sensitivity - the interviewer is more able to build a rapport with interviewee meaning they will feel more comfortable when talking about sensitive topics. This encourages them to open up

Dobash and Dobash - used unstructured interviews to research domestic violence and found that when they built a rapport with the interviewee they felt more comfortable about opening up

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12
Q

What is a theoretical advantage of using unstructured interviews

A

Valid - the researcher can find reasons behind all answers and get much greater detail when using other types of interviews. This gives them a deeper understanding of their research topic

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13
Q

What is a practical disadvantage of using unstructured interviews

A

Time consuming - people can often talk about things that aren’t relevant to the research and as follow up questions can be asked it can take several hours for 1 interview. This leads to a smaller sample size making it less representative

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14
Q

What is an ethical disadvantage of using unstructured interviews

A

Psychological harm - the interviewer might take the rapport to meaning they can ask more personal questions which can cross the professional boundary and make the interviewee feel uncomfortable

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15
Q

What is a theoretical disadvantage of using unstructured interviews

A

reliability - all the questions will be different meaning it will not be able to be fully replicated. It will also make it hard to compare answers to see a trend to it cannot be compared to other results fully to see if there is consistency

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16
Q

Define a semi-structured interview

A

A data collection technique that involves some pre-determined questions but has opportunity to allow the interviewer to ask follow up questions to responses. This typically produces qualitative data meaning they are favoured by interpretivists.

17
Q

What is one practical advantage of semi-structured interviews

A

Flexibility - can expand on responses

Cicourel and Kitsuse used follow up questions like ‘what do you mean’

18
Q

what is one ethical advantage of semi-structured interviews

A

Informed consent - they have agreed to take part in the research and know what it is going to be about

19
Q

What is one theoretical advantage of semi-structured interviews

A

Valid- can expand on answers and get more detail

20
Q

what is one practical disadvantage of semi-structured interviews

A

Time consuming - more than structured as follow up questions are asked which takes up time. This leads to a smaller sample size and can reduce the representativeness of research

21
Q

What is one ethical disadvantage of semi-structured interviews

A

Psychological harm - follow up questions may get a little too personal between individuals

22
Q

What is one theoretical disadvantage of semi-structured interviews

A

Reliability - the follow up questions will be different for everyone so cannot be replicated accurately to check for consistency in results

23
Q

Define a group interview

A

A data collection method that requires for a group of people to be interviewed at the same time. This produces qualitative data meaning it is favoured by interpretivists.

24
Q

What is a practical advantage of group interviews

A

quick - many people interviewed at the same time so saves time. Can get a larger sample size making it more representative

Willis (1977) - used group interviews when doing his ‘lads’ study

25
Q

What is an ethical advantage of group interviews

A

Protection from harm- they are surrounded with people similar to them and so may feel more comfortable to open up

26
Q

What is a theoretical advantage of group interviews

A

valid- people are more likely to open up and give details when they feel comfortable and one persons response may trigger someone else to say something useful

  • Representative - can see the behaviour of the people in the study
27
Q

What is one practical disadvantage of group interviews

A

Trained interviewer - costs money, they need to be able to keep the group constantly focussed so they don’t end up going off topic. also need to ensure discussions aren’t dominated by 1 or 2 people and that everyone gets a say

28
Q

What is one ethical disadvantage of group interviews

A

confidentiality/ anonymity - all members of the group can see who is giving what answers to there is no privacy to answers

29
Q

What is one theoretical disadvantage of group interviews

A

Validity - As there’s a group of people, this may lead to the Hawthorne effect meaning the data is not accurate to reality which reduces the validity

Rich (1968) - When adults interviewed children they changed their answers to please the interviewer. This is because of status and power inequalities

30
Q

What are 6 problems of interviews as a social interaction?

A
  1. Interviewer bias- Leading questions - Oakley- hard to remain detached
  2. Artificiality - Hawthorne effect
  3. status and power inequalities - Rich (1968) - Children need to please adult interviewer
  4. cultural differences
  5. social desirability effect
  6. ethical issues
31
Q

What are some techniques that some researchers use to increase the validity of their interviews ?

A
  1. Ask fast paced questions- prevents interviewees from making up answers/ lying - Kinsey (1953) used this when interviewing on sexual behaviour
  2. Matching characteristics between interviewer and interviewee eg gender, age, ethnicity
  3. Playing ‘dumb’ to the interviewee - Becker (1971) used it to extract sensitive info from teachers about how they classified pupils in terms of class and ethnicity

sociology research methods (3 decks)

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