Interviews

Question 1

Give an example of an unstructured interview

Answer 1

Barker - The moonies

Dobash+Dobash - studies women in a refuge to understand experiences of domestic violence

Question 2

What are the practical strengths of unstructured interviews?

Answer 2

They are flexible
Can be used for sensitive issues
Allows formulation of new ideas
Gives more insight
Creates a rapport

Question 3

What are the theoretical strengths and weaknesses of unstructured interviews?

Answer 3

Strengths: Highly valid, gains verstehen and more insight

Weaknesses: Unrepresentative (ungeneralisable), unreliable, small sample lowers validity and representativeness, hard to quantify, seems valid but may be distorted by social desirability effect, could go off track and no relevant data gathered, no trends or patterns, overly subjective (Positivism)

Question 4

What are the practical limitations of unstructured interviews?

Answer 4

Time consuming, needs training and is hard to analyse, hard to quantify, can go off track

Question 5

Give an example of a study that used structured interviews

Answer 5

Laud Humphreys- impersonal sex in public places (tea rooms) disguised as health survey

British crime survey-level of crime in Britain

Question 6

What are the practical strengths and limitations of structured interviews?

Answer 6

Strengths:
Gain data you are interested in
Quick and cheap
No training necessary
Data is easy to analyse

Limitations:
Inflexible

Question 7

What are the ethical strengths and limitations of structured interviews?

Answer 7

Strengths: Consent is easy and there is no obligation to answer questions

Limitations: Can’t ask sensitive questions

Question 8

What are the theoretical strengths and limitations of structured interviews?

Answer 8

Strengths:
Reliable
Representative

Limitations:
Lacks validity
No depth, insight, or explanations
Social desirability effects

Question 9

What are the Positivist and Interpretivist viewpoints on structured interviews?

Answer 9

Positivists like this method as it gives quantitative data and cause and effect can be established, and interpretivists do not like structured interviews as they do not give meanings and have low validity

Question 10

Give an example of a group interview study

Answer 10

Paul Willis used a group interview to study working class underachievement. Group interview allowed a conversation to start, and find out why the ‘lads’ were underachieving

Question 11

What are the practical strengths and limitations of group interviews?

Answer 11

Strengths:
Can combine questioning with observation to better understand the group
Reduces the role of the interviewer
Relaxed environment allows individuals to open up

Limitations:
Potentially difficult to get a large group of people in one place to conduct the interview
Quality of interview depends on researchers ability to keep the group focused on the topic
Easy to go off topic

Question 12

What are the theoretical strengths and limitations of group interviews?

Answer 12

Strengths: Relaxed atmosphere increases validity, more insight

Limitations: Peer pressure reduces validity, unreliable because it is impossible to replicate

Question 13

What are the ethical strengths and limitations of unstructured interviews?

Answer 13

Strengths: Use for sensitive topics, consent is given, can be used on vulnerable participants

Limitations: Can invade privacy