L-- Methodology

Question 1

Individual Interview

Answer 1

• participants are more willing to share their personal information
  • allow the researcher to build a good rapport with the participants
  • in-depth individual interviews are useful to research sensitive topics
  • Get an insight into participant’s subjective experiences and interpretations
  • Understand participants’ opinions, attitudes and meanings they attach to certain events
  • Understand how participants respond to past events

Individual interview include: structured/semi-structured/unstructured

Question 2

Structured interview

Answer 2

• Every participant were asked in the exactly the same order
• A fixed list of questions in a fixed order

Pros:
• Easy to compare data between participants
• Useful in the research project which involves several interviewers

Cons:
• Lack of flexibility–not allowed for further questions
• Participants could not express their opinions

Question 3

Semi-structured interview

Answer 3

• No specific other or list
• Researcher has the flexibility to ask certain questions and follow-up questions

Pros:
• Fit the natural flow of conversation
• Useful for small research projects
• Effective in studying the unique experiences of each participants
• Establish a good rapport with the participants
• More flexible

Cons:
• Time-consuming
• Les comparability across researchers and participants

Question 4

Unstructured interview

Answer 4

• Participant-driven–tell their story
• Every next question is determined by the interviewee’s answer to the previous one

Pros:
• Effective for investigating unique cases
• Gain an insight of individual’s experience

Cons:
• Time-consuming
• Difficult to analyse and interpret the results

Question 5

Focus group

Answer 5

• Type of semi-structured interview (informal, discussion-based) with a small group of people (6~10)
• The researcher acts as the facilitator of the discussion.
• Participants are encouraged to interact with each other
• Create group dynamics for the researcher to analyse
• With a shared and relevant trait or experience

Strengths:
• The interaction between the participants are more natural
• It might reveal more aspects than one-on-one conversation with the researcher
• Easier to respond to sensitive questions in a group setting
• Multiple perspectives allow the researcher to get a more holistic understanding of the topic

Limitations:
• Dominant respondent can distort group dynamics and affect other participants’ responses.
• Difficult t preserve confidentiality
• Focus groups are demanding in terms of sampling and creating interview transcripts..

Question 6

Case study

Answer 6

• An in-depth investigation of an individual or a group
• Individual or the group is unique in order to gain deep understanding of the particular individual or group
• No sampling issue
• Less focus on generalisability of results
• Case is studies thoroughly and longitudinally using a combination of methods(interviews, observations, questionnaires)

Strengths:
• Useful to investigate special phenomena e.g. unique brain damage or long-term deprivation
• It can contradict established theories and develop new ones

Limitations:
• Researcher bias and participant bias–the researcher interacts with the participant for prolonged periods of time
• Hard to generalise the findings from a single case to other settings/ a wider population
• Difficult to protect the confidentiality of participants and their data

Question 7

Field Experiment

Answer 7

• Takes place in the “real world”
• Researcher manipulates the IV

Strengths:
• High ecological validity
• Qualitative data

Limitations: 
•	Cannot control extraneous variables
•	Expensive
•	Ethical concerns: not practical to get informed consent
•	Debriefing
•	Low internal validity