INTERVIEWS Flashcards
4 different types, what are they?
- Structured/ formal
- Unstructured/ informal
- Semi-structured
- Group interviews
Practical Issues; STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS
- More costly due to having to train interviewers
- Can’t reach as big numbers as questionnaires
- Easily quantifiable
Response Rate; STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS
- People are more likely to accept an interview than do a questionnaire
- Young and Willmott; out of 987 people asked, only 54 refused
Reliability; STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS
- Easily repeatable
Validity; STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS
- Closed-ended questions restrict interviewees
- Little freedom for interviewers to explain the meaning of a question
- People may exaggerate
Inflexibility; STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS
- Have to draw up questions in advance
- A snapshot of life
Feminist Criticisms; STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS
- Patriarchal and give a distorted, invalid picture of women’s experience
- See women as isolated individuals, not oppressed
- Difficult to express their experiences which conceals unequal power
Rapport and sensitivity; UNSTRUCTURED INTERVIEWS
- More likely to develop a rapport
- Eases the interviewee and encourages them to open up
- Example: Labov (1973)
The Interviewee’s view; UNSTRUCTURED INTERVIEWS
- Lets the interviewee decide what’s important
- Allows for fresh insights and valid data
- Dean and Taylor-Gooby (1992)
Checking understanding; UNSTRUCTURED INTERVIEWS
- Questions can be explained
- Follow-up questions can be put to clarify matters
Flexibility; UNSTRUCTURED INTERVIEWS
- Highly flexible
- New ideas can be formulated
Exploring unfamiliar topics; UNSTRUCTURED INTERVIEWS
- Can learn as we go along
Disadvantages of UNSTRUCTURED INTERVIEWS
(PET)- P
- Time and sample size; take a long time to conduct which limits how many can be done
- Training; must be a sociologist
- Interpersonal Skills
Disadvantages of UNSTRUCTURED INTERVIEWS; Representativeness
- Harder to make valid generalisations based on the findings of interviews
Disadvantages of UNSTRUCTURED INTERVIEWS; Reliability
- Impossible to replicate
Disadvantages of UNSTRUCTURED INTERVIEWS; Quantification
- Answers can’t be pre-coded
- Difficult to count up the amount of interviewees agreeing/disagreeing with a question
Disadvantages of UNSTRUCTURED INTERVIEWS; Validity
- Due to the interaction between the interviewer and the interviewee, this distorts the information obtained
Ways social interactions can threaten the validity of interviews:
- Interviewer bias
- From asking leading questions
- Oakley (1982); hard to remain detached - Artificiality
- Doubtful whether truthful answers can be obtained - Status and Power Inequalities
- Bigger the status difference, the less valid the data
- Rich (1968); the child’s need to please the interviewer will affect their answers - Cultural Differences
- Undermines validity - Social Desirability
- People often seek to win approval - Ethical issues
- Interviewee may feel under pressure
- Sensitive topics may also risk causing sociological harm
How to improve the validity of interviews?
- Kinsey (1953); Asking questions rapidly so that people weren’t lying
- Becker (1971); aggression, disbelief and ‘playing dumb’
- Nazroo (1997); make sure the interviewers and the interviewees are ethically and language-matched
