Structured Interviews - PERVERT Flashcards
Practical factors
Strengths: Structured interviews offer a standardized format, making them relatively easy to administer and analyze. Researchers can use predetermined questions to ensure consistency across participants.
Weaknesses: However, designing and preparing structured interview protocols can be time-consuming. Additionally, conducting interviews may require significant resources, such as time and personnel.
Ethical factors
Strengths: Structured interviews allow researchers to obtain informed consent and maintain confidentiality, adhering to ethical guidelines. Participants are typically aware of the purpose and format of the interview, reducing the risk of deception or discomfort.
Weaknesses: Nonetheless, researchers must still consider ethical issues such as privacy, respect for participants’ autonomy, and potential power imbalances between interviewer and interviewee.
Reliability
Strengths: Structured interviews can yield high reliability, as they use a standardized format and predetermined questions, reducing the potential for interviewer bias or variability in data collection.
Weaknesses: However, reliability may be affected by factors such as interviewer characteristics, participants’ responses, and the clarity of the interview questions.
Validity
Strengths: Structured interviews can demonstrate high content validity, as researchers can design questions to directly address the research objectives and capture relevant information.
Weaknesses: Yet, structured interviews may be limited in assessing complex or nuanced topics, as they rely on predetermined questions and may not allow for in-depth exploration of participants’ perspectives.
Examples
Strengths: Structured interviews are commonly used in research across various disciplines, including sociology, psychology, and public health. For example, national surveys often employ structured interview techniques to gather data on demographic characteristics, health behaviors, and social attitudes.
Weaknesses: However, structured interviews may not be well-suited for all research questions, particularly those requiring open-ended exploration or detailed qualitative insights.
Representativeness
Strengths: Structured interviews can enhance the representativeness of findings by using standardized questions and sampling techniques to ensure diverse participation and minimize selection bias.
Weaknesses: Nonetheless, the representativeness of structured interviews may be limited by factors such as response rates, sample characteristics, and the ability to generalize findings to broader populations.
Theoretical factors
Strengths: Structured interviews can contribute to theoretical development by providing systematic data on specific variables or constructs, allowing researchers to test hypotheses and refine theoretical models.
Weaknesses: However, structured interviews may prioritize quantitative data collection over qualitative insights, potentially overlooking contextual factors or individual experiences that are crucial for theory building.
