Lesson 12 (Structured, Semi-structured And Unstructured Interviews)

Question 1

Disadvantages of structured interviews

Answer 1

• the interviewer effect affects validity
• social desirability bias affects validity
• feminist sociologists state that the interviewer can exploit interviewee/ creates a hierarchy
• not representative
• snapshot in time only (not giver valid/ reliable results)

Question 2

Advantages of structured interviews

Answer 2

• structured interviews are quantitative, large sample size could potentially be gained with lots of data collected
• higher response rate than questionnaires and therefore results are more representative
• researches could easily be trained to conduct structured interviews
• results could easily be quantified [high in reliability] to analyse result (supported by positivists)

Question 3

Advantages of unstructured interviews

Answer 3

• data has high validity
• good rapport between researcher and interviewee
• can research sensitive, empathetic topics
• verstehen and insight could be gained
• supported by interpretivists

Question 4

Disadvantages of unstructured interviews

Answer 4

• low in reliability
• time consuming
• small sample -> lower representativeness
• cause and effect cannot be established
• interviewer bias could occur

Question 5

Advantages of semi-structure interviews

Answer 5

• mixture of close ended and open questions used —-> qualitative and quantitative data collected
• large sample
• both reliable and Valid results

Question 6

Disadvantages of semi-structured interviews

Answer 6

• time consuming

- sample size smaller than that of a structured interview