Unstructured Interviews

Question 1

Dobash and Dobash

Answer 1

• Conducted 109 unstructured interviews with women who were victims of DV.
• To build up a rapport they worked in the women’s refuges of Glasgow.
• spent time with the women, asked about their whole lives - interviews were detailed and lasted for up to 12 hours- trust is integral to the validity of unstructured interviews.

Question 2

Becker

Answer 2

• Interviewed 60 Chicago teachers
• used ‘hard interviewing’, aggressive lines of questioning to get the truth - - only successful when the interviewer has the core skills needed.

Question 3

Nazro

Answer 3

• Survey on the health of Britain’s ethnic minorities,
• carried out in the language of the interviewees choice.
• questions and other materials were translated and tested before being used.

Question 4

Cicourel and Kitsuse

Answer 4

• Semi-structured interviews on the role of labelling of social class factors within education.
  -After initial structured question, they followed up with “How do you mean?” as a way of gaining more information.
• This shows that additional questions can be asked where the interviewer thinks it relevant.

Question 5

Willis

Answer 5

• series of group interviews with about a dozen or so boys being interviewed together.
• He gained an insight into the role of peer pressures and collective identity which was a driver in their cultural values.

Question 6

Labov

Answer 6

• Studied speech codes of Black American children
• under the pressure of a formal interview the children appeared ‘linguistically deprived’.
• adopted a more sensitive style by sitting on the floor, letting the child have a friend brought a completely different response.
• children opened up and spoke freely, showing their competence. In this he showed that rapport is essential to good interviewing

Question 7

Oakley

Answer 7

• used interviews to understand on how gender affected the amount of housework done within the home.
• However, as a mother herself she found it difficult to remain detached and neutral when interviewing. [detachment and operationalisation]

Question 8

Sharpe

Answer 8

Sue Sharpe [1994] investigated changes in women’s aspirations from the 1970s to the 1990s.
- unstructured interviews allowed her to identify how women’s aspirations had changed over time and why these changes had occurred. - only achievable because Sharpe employed qualitative interview techniques as part of her research.