Interviews Flashcards
Interviews
Face-to-face, real-time contact between an interviewer and interviewee.
Can take place over the phone or via text.
Structured interviews
Interviewer reads out a list of prepared questions.
Can ask follow-up questions, but these are also prepared beforehand.
Unstructured interviews
Interviewer has a general aim, but few if any questions are prepared in advance.
New questions are created based on what the interviewee has said. A lot like a conversation.
Semi-structured interviews
Some questions decided in advance.
Follow-up questions emerge from the answers.
Strength of the interviews
A strength is that interviews produce a lot of information. This is especially true of unstructured interviews. This means that unexpected results may occur.
Another strength is that insight can be gained into a person’s thoughts and feelings. Observations only show what people do not how they think about their behaviour. This provides a different perspective.
Weaknesses of interviews
Weaknesses
A weakness is that data can be difficult to analyse. This is because of the breadth of information collected. This makes it hard to draw clear conclusions.
Another weakness is that people may feel less comfortable giving personal information face-to-face. This is especially true if questions are on a sensitive topic. This may limit the amount of information collected.
Open and closed questions
Open questions are more likely in an interview and closed questions are more likely in a questionnaire.
Open questions tend to produce qualitative data as participants can answer them how they wish.
Closed questions have a fixed range of possible answers such as ‘yes’ or ‘no’ or circling a number on a rating scale. This is quantitative data.
Strengths of questionnaires
A strength is that the researcher can gather information from lots of people relatively quickly. This is because a questionnaire can be sent to many people. This makes generalisations easier to make.
Another strength is the data produced tends to be easier to analyse than interviews. This is because closed questions are used which produce quantitative data. This makes it easier to draw conclusions.
Weaknesses of questionnaires
Weaknesses
A weakness is that respondents may not always answer questionnaires truthfully. This social desirability bias may affect the validity of their responses. This reduces the validity of the data collected.
Another weakness is that questions may be unclear or leading. This means that respondents may find it difficult to answer questions. Therefore participant’s responses may lack validity.
Naturalistic and controlled observation
Naturalistic observation is recorded in a place where it would normally occur and nothing is changed in the environment.
If a level of control is needed a controlled observation will be used, e.g. Zimbardo’s prison study.
Covert observation
Covert observation = participants are not aware their behaviour is being recorded.
Overt observation
Overt observation = participants are told in advance.
Participant observation
researcher becomes part of the group s/he is studying.
Non participant observation
researcher remains separate from the people s/he is studying.
Interobserver reliability
Two observers should produce the same record of behaviour.
To establish interobserver reliability the researcher creates categories of behaviour, observers record the same sequence of behaviour, then they compare their data (correlate) and talk over differences.
If the observations are not similar the categories may need to be altered or rewritten.
