THEORY & METHODS - Structured interviews

Question 1

What are some practical strengths of structured interviews

Answer 1

• Cheapest form of interview
• Training is inexpensive and straight forward
• Can gather straightfoward information
• Closed questions + coded answers = easily quantifiable results = suitable for hypothesis testing
• Limited ‘interviewer effect’

Question 2

Practical limitations

Answer 2

• More costly than posting or emailing
• Cant pursue interesting leads = losing valuable insights
• Merely snapshots at a certain moment = not getting the full picture
• Fixed schedule = untruthfulness cant be checked up on
• Not completely free from interviewer effect - respondent may interpret the interviewers social characteristics = influencing their answers
• Pre-coded questions = time consuming
• If a new idea pops up = have to make a completely new interview

Question 3

Ethical strengths

Answer 3

• Can be useful for dealing with sensitive topics

Question 4

Ethical limitations

Answer 4

• May have to cause respondents to recall psychologically upsetting memories
• In structured interviews, theres often no anonymity
• Illegal or immoral activities may be disclosed = ethical dilema

Question 5

Are structured interviews reliable?

- Why?

Answer 5

Yes

• Easy to standardise control interviews = more reliable
• Same wording and tone of voice = easily repeated by another sociologist

Question 6

Are structured interviews valid?

- Why?

Answer 6

• Close ended questions = invalid data - respondents cant answer how they wish
• Little freedom to explain to clarify understandings
• People may lie or exaggerate = false data
• Inflexible = invalid results as respondents cant answer how they wish

Question 7

How are these examples of structured interviews

• Young + Willmott
• Halsey, Heath, Ridge
• Townsend

Answer 7

YOUNG + WILLMOTT: Only had 54 refusals out of asking 987 people

HALSEY, HEATH, RIDGE: Origins and destinations

TOWNSEND: Poverty and social exclusion

Question 8

In what ways are structured interviews representative

Answer 8

• Generally higher response rate than questionnaires = more rep. = better basis for generalisations
• Surveys can cover large numbers with fairly limited resources

Question 9

In what ways are structured interviews not representative

- How can this be overcome?

Answer 9

• Still cant match the huge numbers from postal questionnaires
• Those who are willing to be interviewed may be untypical = unrepresentative data and undermines the validity
• Response rates can be increased if the interviewer makes a call back, but = higher £

Question 10

Why do positivists prefer structured interviews

Answer 10

• Start from the assumption there is a measurable and objective social reality
• Fixed and closed questions = quantifiable results = ability to identify patterns and produce generalisations
• More reliable and produce rep. data

Question 11

Why do interpretivists reject structured interviews

Answer 11

• Lacks validity