interviews

Question 1

what is an interview?

Answer 1

Interviews are self-report techniques that involve an experimenter asking participants direct questions and recording their responses.

(generally on a one-to-one basis)

Question 2

what are the different types of interviews?

Answer 2

• structured
• semi-structured
• unstructured

Question 3

what is a structured interview?

Answer 3

involves asking participants a predetermined, standardised set of questions in the same way and order

Question 4

what are strengths of using a structured interview?

Answer 4

• Don’t have to rely on establishing rapport
• Can gather both qual and quant data

A strength is that it has high reliability. This is because each participant is asked the same questions each time

A strength is that structured interviews require less interviewing skill. This is because everything is set out ahead of time and therefore requires less skill

A strength is that interview bias is reduced. This is because with a set script, the potential for the interviewer to influence responses is minimized, leading to more objective data collection.

Question 5

what are weaknesses of using a structured interview?

Answer 5

• It might lead to gathering ‘superficial’ information which lacks detail, decreases the validity of the results.
• Respondent may feel limited as they can’t develop their responses, reducing validity
• Not flexible - this means new questions cannot be asked during the interview, as an interview schedule must be followed

Question 6

what is a unstructured interview?

Answer 6

• The interviewer doesn’t have a set of standardised questions, instead questions develop as interview goes along.
• Interviewer must be skilled in order to build rapport to get the most out of the respondent and to be analytical during the interview in order to respond to information given so they ask appropriate questions.

Question 7

what are strengths of using an unstructured interview?

Answer 7

• more flexible than structured so conversation can flow, responses more likely to be in depth - important to build rapport
• Can gather both qual and quant data

A strength of using semi-structured interviews is that more detailed information can be gathered which increases validity. This is because it gives the interviewer the opportunity to probe for a deeper understanding and ask for clarification.

Question 8

what are weaknesses of using an unstructured interview?

Answer 8

• practial issues as can be time-consuming to conduct an unstructured interview
• Employing and training interviewers is expensive and not as cheap as collecting data via questionnaires. e.g. certain skills may be needed by the interviewer, such as the ability to establish rapport and knowing when to probe.
• A weakness is that it is the least standardised method as participants may have been asked different questions, therefore it is less reliable as it can’t replicated
• A weakness of using semi-structured interviews is that the findings are harder to analyse. This is because each ppt may have been asked different questions.

Question 9

what is a semi-structured interview?

Answer 9

• More flexible than structured interviews, researcher has a set of questions to ask but do not have a standardised format to follow
• This allows the researcher to ask further questions to gather more relevant and detailed data and can build a rapport with the respondent

Question 10

what are strengths of semi-structured interviews?

Answer 10

• A strength of using semi-structured interviews is that more detailed information can be gathered. This is because questions cane be used to elaborate on answers in semi-structured interview
• More flexible than structured so conversation can flow, responses more likely to be in depth - important to build rapport
• Can gather both qual and quant data - comparing the qualitative data to the quantitative ratings will increase the internal validity because it will allow the researchers to check if they are consistent with one another

Question 11

what are weaknesses of semi-structured interviews?

Answer 11

• Less standardised than structured as some participants may have been asked different follow up questions, therefore less reliable
• A weakness is that if rapport isn’t built, the respondent may feel that they can’t develop their points. Therefore may give limited answers which reduces validity