Unstructured Interviews Flashcards
what is an unstructured interview
open ended questioning lasting a long time
what does an unstructured interview consist of
few or no pre-set questions - general areas to talk about loosely directing interview
- like a guided conversation
it is recorded
why is flexibility important
allows respondent to lead the interview and discuss what they think is important
give an example of an unstructured interview
dobash and dobash - study into domestic violence
advantage/ example - informality
. informality allows rapport to be built up
. increases validity
. good for sensitive topics like bullying or domestic violence
e. dobash and dobash built rapport with victims of domestic violence by spending a long time in the refuges and became important to the women
advantage/ example - verstehen
. has verstehen - empathy
. high validity
e. dobash and dobash spent a lot of time with the women and asked them about their whole lives not just domestic violence
advantage/examples - qualitative
. findings qualitative and in depth
. motives, emotions, reasons, meanings and feelings can be explored
. get close to real experiences
. validity increases
e. dobash and dobash’s interviews lasted for up to 12 hours and were highly detailed
e. sharpe was able to gain a great insight into feelings, aspirations and views of girls’ attitudes towards education, family and work
advantage - premature closure
. no premature closure (can go on for as long as necessary)
. interviewer does not pre-define findings
. validity increased
advantage - flexibility
. huge potential
. interviewer can follow up interesting avenues of discussion they had previously not thought of
. interviewers can probe further and get respondents to develop points
advantage - no confusion
example
. no confusion over meaning of questions
. questions can be explained by interviewer
. increases validity
e. particularly important when researching young pupils who may have communication difficulties
disadvantage/example - sample size
. small sample size due to detailed and time consuming nature of the technique
. lowers reliability
. difficult to get representative sample or to generalise findings to wider pop
e. dobash and dobash only carried 109 interviews
disadvantage - systematic
. not systematic - no preset questions
. skills of the interviewer must be relied upon
. results difficult to verify
. lowered reliability
disadvantage - objectivity
examples
. method can lack objectivity
. way interviewer asks questions (leading questions) may affect results
. eg facial expression, body language and voice tone
. interviewer may offer own opinions biasing results
. bias may occur during detailed analysis process
. lowers validity due to bias
e. sociologists have years of working in education which may distort their views or they may take things for granted
e. students may be easily influenced by adult researchers who have more power, status and linguistic abilities
disadvantage - inequalities
example
. inequalities in power and status between interviewer and interviewee lower validity
. gender and ethnic differences may also distort
. lowers findings validity
e. young children interviewed about their experiences of schooling may feel the need to offer answers they think the researcher wants to hear
e. students may see interviewers as teachers in disguise which can distort answers
practical disadvantage - time
example
extremely time consuming compared to other methods
eg may need help explaining questions
e: extra time should be given to studying young students as they may not understand questions;
teachers are often overworked and may be less helpful if interviews last a long time;
some schools may reject interviews because of lesson time that is lost
