Unstructured Interviews

Question 1

what is an unstructured interview?

Answer 1

• ask open ended questions with no fixed questions to be asked of every respondent
• to produce qualitative data since respondent can respond with opinions
• guided by interviewee by interviewer

Question 2

positive practical factors

Answer 2

(+) it is flexible; not restricted to ask fixed questions and if the interviewee is uncomfortable they can skip questions

(+) good method to use to explore sensitive topics; open ended questions can start conversation

Question 3

negative practical factors

Answer 3

(-) time and sample size; takes long to be in depth which limits how to get the sample

(-) it is costly due to training and conductivity

Question 4

positive ethical factors

Answer 4

(+) able to skip questions if interviewee feels uncomfortable

Question 5

positive validity factors

Answer 5

(+) informality of unstructured interviews allows interviewer to develop rapport of trust and understanding with interviewee

(+) good for researching sensitive topics as there are no fixed set questions

Question 6

negative validity factors

Answer 6

(-) open questions lead to answers that cant be pro-coded which can make it difficult to quantify

(-) lacks quantitative data so it makes it less useful for establishing cause and effect relationships and hypothesis testing

Question 7

negative reliability factors

Answer 7

(-) unreliable = not standardised

(-) each interview is different so they are free to ask and answer questions so it is hard to replicate

Question 8

negative representative factors

Answer 8

(-) smaller sample size because it is not standardised which wont be representative