//Interviews Flashcards
Why do positivists prefer structured interviews?
They can get the exact answers they want quickly. (Quantitative data, easy to analyse, generalise to everyone).
Why do interpretivists prefer unstructured interviews?
They can see how certain people react on the spot. Participants may also take comfort in the fact that interviewer is also on spot while improvising. (Interested in meaning/validity, in-depth data).
What are the ethical issues with structured interviews?
Right Answerism
Anonymity
Right to Withdraw
What are the practical advantages to structured interviews?
Rapport is not as important
Large sample
Face-to-face questioning means the interviewer can explain the question
What are the practical disadvantages to structured interviews?
More expensive than questionnaires
People can lie in their results
Rapport is not as important
Explain why right answerism is an ethical issue for structured interviews.
This is when the participant feels as though they have to give a particular answer - This can be solved by building a good rapport between interviewer and participant.
Explain why anonymity is an ethical issue with structured interviews.
This is when the sociologist can guarantee that the participant’s identity will not be known to anyone else and none of their answers can be traced back to them.
Explain why right to withdraw is an ethical issue with structured interviews.
This is when the participant has the right to not answer a particular question or to leave the interview completely.
Explain why rapport not being very important is a practical disadvantage to structured interviews.
This may result in the participant feeling pressure to give a certain answer because they do not get on with the interviewer and do not feel comfortable with them. - this results in the participant lying in their answers and therefore producing an unrepresentative sample.
Explain why structured interviews being more expensive than questionnaires is a practical disadvantage.
You have to pay for interviewers to be trained - this may be an inconvenience for sociologists who do not have a lot of funding.
Explain why people lying in their results is a practical disadvantage.
They may be in a rush or may not feel comfortable telling the truth or may not completely understand the question - this means that the data will be unrepresentative.
What are the practical advantages with unstructured interviews?
Questions can be changed depending on the participant’s answer
They produce qualitative data
High validity
What are the ethical issues with unstructured interviews?
More sensitive topics
Right to withdraw
Psychological harm
What is structured interview?
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What is an unstructured interview?
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