Sociology-RM-Interviews in context Flashcards
What issues in sociology might sociologists use interviews to study?
Pupil subcultures, pupils’ experience of health education, class/ethnicity/language, gender identity and the male gaze, and class/parental choice of schools
What are practical issues with using interviews to investigate education?
Young people’s linguistic and intellectual skills are less developed than adults and this can pose practical problems as young interviewees may be less articulate or reluctant to talk, not understand long complex questions or some abstract concepts, have more limited vocabulary or use words incorrectly or differently eg slang. Also may have shorter attention span and poorer memory retrieval, and ready body language differently. These factors can lead to misunderstandings and incorrect or incomplete answers and so undermine validity of data obtained
What type of interview is better for pupils?
Communication difficulties mean unstructured interviews may be more suitable than structured ones, since they allow the interviewer more scope to clear up misunderstandings by re-wording questions or explaining their meaning
What is a problem however with using unstructured interviews with pupils?
Children may have more difficulty keeping to the point. As Powney and Watts note, young children tend to be more literal minded and pay attention to unexpected details in questions, and may use different logic from adult interviewers. Training therefore is needed to be more through if interviewing children, which adds to costs of research
Despite the issues with interviewing children, why is this a better method than questionnaires?
Young people tend to have better verbal than literacy skills, so interviews may be more successful than written questionnaires as a method of obtaining valid answers
How can characteristics of a school cause a practical problem with interviews?
Schools have very active communicative channels, meaning the content of the interview may get around most pupils and teachers after only a few interviews have taken place. This may influence the responses given by later interviewees, reducing the validity of the data
How can the location of the interview cause problems?
If interviews are conduced on school premises, this may affect how comfortable the pupil or parent feels. The school and the classroom represent higher status and authority, and some pupils and parents might find the location off-putting. Teachers too may be put off by the fear of colleagues or the head teacher overhearing, especially if the questions are of a sensitive nature
What is a practical issue with unstructured interviews in schools?
They can often take an hour or more to conduct. Given the time constraints most teachers work under, interviews with them would probably have to take place outside school hours. If the interviews are conducted during school time, there are likely to be interruptions and other distractions that are commonplace in a busy school environment. Parents also often have busy work and parenting schedules and may only cooperate in lengthy interviews if they can see some benefit to their children’s education
What is a possible ethical issue with using interviews to investigate education?
For young children in particular, there is the ethical issue that they may be unsettled by strange situations such as an interview, so researchers need to take particular care that the interview does not distress them
Are interviews into education reliable and valid?
Structured interviews produce reliable data as they are standardised, however they may not produce valid data since young people are unlikely to respond favourably to such a formal style- perhaps because it makes the interviewer appear too much like a teacher
How did Di Bentley attempt to overcome the formality of interviews in school?
She began each interview by showing them a funny image of her and her daughter. During the interview, she maintained a relaxed atmosphere by nodding, smiling and making eye contact. However, this is a very personal interviewing style that cannot easily be standardised. Different interviewers would likely obtain very different results and this would reduce reliability and comparability of their findings
How easy is it to gain access to schools for research?
Schools are hierarchical institutions which can cause problems when seeking to interview teachers or pupils. Powney and Watts note the lower down the hierarchy the interviewee is, the more approvals that have to be obtained. Schools may also be reluctant to allow interviews during lesson time because of the disruption it causes, or because they object to the research topic. There may also be problems conducting interviews after school hours, whether on school premises or in pupils’ homes
What additional approval is needed to study pupils?
Parental permission. The likelihood of this being granted varies according to the subject of research. Field’s study of pupils’ experience of health education in schools had a relatively high refusal rate of 29(, mainly due to parents withholding consent
How can the fact that schools are hierarchical actually be a positive?
IF the researcher can obtain official support for the study, then the hierarchical nature of school may work in their favour. Eg heads can instruct teachers to release pupils from class for interviews and this may increase the response rate
How can power and status issues affect interviews in school?
If interviewees have less power than the interviewer, they may see it as being in their own interests to lie, exaggerate, conceal information or seek to please when answering questions. They may also be less self-confident and their responses less articulate. All this will reduce the validity of the data
