structured interviews

Question 1

Structured interviews

Answer 1

Questions are read out by the interviewer and decided precisely in advance, with a range of pre determined answers that the respondent can choose from

Question 2

Practical issues - adv

Answer 2

1. Structured interviews can cover large numbers because they are quick and fairly cheap to administer 2. They are suitable for gathering straight forward facts such as age, job, religion3. Training interviews is relatively straight forward and inexpensive as they simply have to read questions out 4. Results are easy to quantify because they close ended questions with pre coded 5. Response rate higher than for questionnaires

Question 3

Theoretical issues - positivists

Answer 3

They want a reliable method that helps them achieve their goals of being scientific and objective as well as the opportunity to produce quantitive data. For the positivists structured interviews have advantages

Question 4

Positivists advantages

Answer 4

1. Hypothesis testing - follows scientists approach and seek to discover laws of cause and effect 2. Reliability - easy to standardise and control 3. Representativeness - quick, cheap and easy to administer

Question 5

Interpretivism

Answer 5

They are concerned to uncover the meanings that actors use to construct social reality. They say quantitive methods can’t do this as they produce false pictures. They say structured interviews have disadvantages

Question 6

Interpretivism disadvantages

Answer 6

1. Restrictive - force people to answer closed questions 2. Interviewers can’t explain or clarify questions 3. People can lie or exaggerate 4. The interview schedule is drawn up in advance

Question 7

Feminism

Answer 7

Many feminists reject survey methods. They say the relationship between researcher and the researched reflects the exploitative nature of gender relationships in patriarchal society - Oakley argued that the positivistic approach to research is masculine placing high value on objectivity, detachment and hierarchy and regards science as more important than the people it researches