THEORY & METHODS - Unstructured interviews

Question 1

What are some practical strengths of unstructured interviews

Answer 1

• PROBING = develop thoughts, more flexible
• Question can be explained = clearer UNDERSTANDING
• Open ended questions + follow up = don’t need to draw up a NEW INTERVIEW
• Open ended questions = more useful for UNFAMILIAR TOPICS

Question 2

Practical limitations

Answer 2

• In-depth = hours to conduct
• More thorough training = more £
• Not pre-coded questions = difficult to quantify interviewees
• Lack of quantitive data
• Possibility of going off track

Question 3

Ethical strengths

Answer 3

• Informality = developing a rapport

- Useful for sensitive topics

Question 4

Ethical limitations

Answer 4

• Some may prefer anonymous postal in sensitive topics rather than the probing of questions face to face

Question 5

Are unstructured interviews reliable?

- Why?

Answer 5

No

• Not standardised
• Each interview is unique - can ask any questions they want = impossible to replicate

Question 6

In what ways are unstructured interviews valid

Answer 6

• No pre-set questions = DEVELOPMENT = more validity
• Informal = TRUST RAPPORT = interviewee more likely to open up
• no set questions = NO INFLUENCE from the sociologist or the funding body
• No structure = opportunity to raise questions about things that might be important

Question 7

In what ways are they invalid

Answer 7

• An interaction between interviewer and interviewee = distorting the information obtained and going off on a tangent
• Issue with the huge amount of data = researcher has to interpret and be selective = researchers own perspective may distort interviewees original meanings.

Question 8

How did these sociologists do an unstructured interview

• Labov
• Dobash + Dobash
• Deam + Gooby

Answer 8

LABOV: Studying the language of black American children

• Found they were ‘linguistically deprived’
• So, adopted a more informal style on the floor with the child and a friend
• The children became competent speakers

DOBASH + DOBASH: Studied domestic violence
- Empathy from the interviewer helped interviewee feel comfortable discussing a difficult subject like this

DEAM + GOOBY: Studied claimints experiences of unemployment
- This approach gives interviewees the freedom to talk in their own terms about the issues

Question 9

What is the danger of group interviews

Answer 9

• Individuals will offer CONFORMIST ANSWERS, rather than what they really think

Question 10

Are unstructured interviews representative?

- Why?

Answer 10

No

• Limiting number of interviews = small sample = smaller representativeness
• Small numbers = hard to make generalisations

Question 11

Why do positivists reject unstructured interviews

Answer 11

• Lack of standardised questions and answers = reliable and quantitative data cant be produced

Question 12

Why do interpretivists like unstructured interviews?

Answer 12

• Gives them the ability to obtain answers that discover meanings which underlie our actions
• Give people the opportunity to talk openly = meanings and world view will emerge more clearly