Structured Interviews - Methods in Context

Question 1

What two skills of children are genuinely less than that of adults? (Practical)

Answer 1

Linguistic and intellectual skills

Question 2

Attention span of children compared to adults (Practical)

Answer 2

They have shorter attention span to adults

Question 3

Vocabulary of children compared to adults (Practical)

Answer 3

They may have a more limited vocabulary range compared to adults which may affect their knowledge of different questions

Question 4

Children’s understanding of question and concepts (Practical)

Answer 4

They may not be able to understand long, complex questions and abstract concepts

Question 5

Memory retrieval of children compared to adults (Practical)

Answer 5

They have a poorer memory retrieval than that of adults

Question 6

What may factors such as not understanding questions led to? (Practical)

Answer 6

Misunderstanding and incorrect or incomplete answers to questions

Question 7

Consequence of incomplete or inaccurate answers (Practical)

Answer 7

Reduces validity

Question 8

What practical issue of structured interviews may imply that unstructured interviews are a better option for educational research?

Answer 8

Communication issues because unstructured interviews allow interviews to explain concepts

Question 9

What practical factor about children may imply that general interviews (structured or unstructured) are better than questionnaires for educational research? (Practical)

Answer 9

Children have better linguistic skills than literacy skills meaning they are better at speech-based questioning compared to written questioning

Question 10

What may get passed around the to most pupils or teachers after only a few interviews have taken place? (Practical)

Answer 10

The content of the interviews which may include inaccurate information

Question 11

Consequence of information being passed around before everyone has completed interview (Practical)

Answer 11

Reduces validity as content of interview information may influence later responses given

Question 12

Example of how the location of the interview impacts the results (Practical)

Answer 12

If they are conducted on school premises, comfortability of pupil or parents will be affected

Question 13

Young people may feel unsettled by an interview. What will researcher have to do? (Ethical)

Answer 13

Researchers will have to take significant care that interview doesn’t cause pupil any harm

Question 14

Why do structured interviews produce reliable data? (Theoretical)

Answer 14

Because they are standardised

Question 15

Why may structured interviews not produce valid data? (Theoretical)

Answer 15

Because young people are unlikely to respond well to formal style because it makes the interviewer appear as a teacher

Question 16

What about the interviewers will reduce the validity and compatibility of the findings? (Theoretical)

Answer 16

Different interviewers are likely to obtain very different results

Question 17

What type of institutions are schools and what is the affect of this? (Theoretical)

Answer 17

Hierarchal institutions which can cause problems when seeking to interview teachers or pupils

Question 18

What do Powney and Watts state about hierarchy of schools? (Theoretical)

Answer 18

The lower down the hierarchy the interviewee is, the more approvals that have to be obtained

Question 19

Why may schools be reluctant to allow sociologists to conduct interviews? (Theoretical) Two reasons

Answer 19

May cause distraction to lessons if they are conducted during lesson time
School’s may not approve of chosen topic

Question 20

Consequence of parental permission being required to interview children (Theoretical)

Answer 20

Likelihood of parental permission being given depends on subject of research. Possibility reduces response rate

Question 21

How is parental permission being required a theoretical issue?

Answer 21

Can lead to low response rates which reduces representativeness of findings

Question 22

How is parental permission being required an ethical issue?

Answer 22

Links to informed consent