Interviews Flashcards
What is a practical advantage of all interviews?
You can plan as many as you need
What are the practical issues with all interviews?
Costly (money + time)
Low accessibility
Time limit may restrict validity
What are the ethical advantages of all interviews?
Informed consent
Identities can be kept confidential
What are the ethical concerns with all types of interviews?
Consent may be hard to get
Interviewees may be uncomfortable with the setting
Power and status inequality may make some people uncomfortable
What are the validity advantages of all types of interviews?
Able to read body language
Know that the right person is answering
Able to use own words
More spontaneous answers
Rapport
What are the validity concerns with all interviews?
Interviewer bias
Social desirability effect
Imposition problem
Lack of anonymity makes it hard to be honest
Demand characteristics
Case study for interviewer bias
Labov, 1968
Young black children were more open and thorough in their responses to black over white interviews
Practical advantages with structured interviews
Quick
Little training required
Practical disadvantages with structured interviews
Not possible to alter/ adapt poor questions during process
Ethical advantages of structured interviews
Questions can be screened beforehand
Less pressure on respondent as questions are often closed
What makes structured interviews reliable?
Standardised questions
Same order
Easy to repeat and challenge
Validity advantages of structured interviews
Able to explain phrasing
What are the validity concerns with structured interviews?
Questions can be restrictive
Imposition problem unchangeable
Case study for structured interviews
Young and Wilmott, 1957
Bethnal Green
Able to represent 1000 people with short biographical questions
- Time consuming
What type of interviews can be generalised?
Structured - comparisons are easily made
Patterns easily seen
Stratified sampling ensures a representative group
What are the practical disadvantages of unstructured interviews?
Interviewers must all be trained the same
Difficult to classify qualitative results
May stray too far from objective
Ethical advantages of unstructured interviews
Can build a comfortable relationship so it is easier to talk about sensitive topics
Ethical disadvantages of unstructured interviews
Subject could become too distressing
Why aren’t unstructured interviews reliable?
Impossible to replicate the exact conditions and conversation
What are the validity advantages of unstructured interviews?
Guided conversation
Deeper concepts can be explored
Full explanations can be prompted with extra Qs
Relate Labov’s 1968 study to unstructured interviews
1968
He intended to research black children’s speech patterns with structured questions
Got better results by sitting on the floor with them in their friendship groups
Why can’t you generalise unstructured interviews?
Small sample sizes
Intended to represent individual thoughts rather than reflect a whole target population
Practical advantages of focus groups
Able to get several people’s opinions at once
Practical issues with focus groups
Scribing whilst joining/leading discussion
Time consuming
May be hard to pull together a group
What are the ethical concerns with focus groups?
Some participants may be incredibly shy or made to feel uncomfortable
Reliability concerns with group interviews
Would be hard to replicate the same discussion
Path of discussion may rely on interviewer’s characteristics
Validity advantages of group interviews
Complex discussions can spark
Very flexible
Sociologist’s ideas/hypothesis can change during the research
Can ask further questions
Strong face validity
What is face validity?
Measuring what it is intended to
What are the validity concerns with group interviews?
Social desire ability effect, especially amongst peers
Shyness may lead to people holding back
Major, popular opinions may be left unexplored or unmentioned by the small group
Where are focus groups often used?
In marketing and public relations
Are focus groups representative?
Yes - well composed groups should reflect a lot of diverse opinions
No - sample is likely to be from snowball/volunteer method
Multiple groups could express extremely different opinions which can’t be explained
Case studies that advocate structured interviews
Sharpe - able to see trends over time
Case studies that challenge structured interviews
Labov - children too uncomfortable in formal situation
Young and Willmott - validity of findings questionable - false impression?
Case studies that advocate unstructured interviews
Dobash and Dobash - made victims of domestic violence more comfortable
Case studies that challenge unstructured interviews
Willis - social desire ability effect
Hey - got participants out of class (unethical)
