Self Report: Interviews

Question 1

What is a structured interview?

Answer 1

A type of interview that contains fixed predetermined questions and ways of replying (making use of fixed questions)

Question 2

What is a semi-structured interview?

Answer 2

A type of interview in which the interviewer has a set of pre-prepared questions to ask and are expected to ask all of them. Other questions will be developed during the interview in response to answers given by the interviewee

Question 3

What is an unstructured interview?

Answer 3

A type of interview that may contain a topic area for discussion but no fixed questions or ways of answering

Question 4

What is a strength of a structured interview?

Answer 4

-Using the same questions means the interview is standardised and replicable as it can be repeated in the same way for each participant
-Responses from each participant can be easily compared

Question 5

What is a strength of a semi-structured interview?

Answer 5

Allows the interviewer to use additional questions to seek clarification on a response, or to explore an interesting comment made during one of the set questions

Question 6

What is a strength of an unstructured interview?

Answer 6

-The interview allows for information to be gathered that might not be revealed from pre-determined questions
-It allows the interviewer to have the freedom to ask on the spot questions which could be relevant

Question 7

What is a weakness of a structured interview?

Answer 7

-The interviewer cannot ask any addition questions: may prevent them from seeking further clarification on a point or not following up on an interesting point

Question 8

What is a weakness of a semi-structured interview?

Answer 8

-The interview is still likely to be constrained around the predetermined questions that are written
-Any additional questions not decided beforehand may vary from participant to participant: difficult to compare

Question 9

What is a weakness of an unstructured interview?

Answer 9

Difficult to compare responses from the different participants, as they may be asked very different questions from each other

Question 10

What is an strength of an interview?

Answer 10

It can be good to meet with people face to face, read their body language, build a report

Question 11

What is a weakness of an interview?

Answer 11

-Often interviewers only see 1 interviewee at a time so it can be time consuming to collect a lot of data
-Lack of confidentiality may mean interviewees won’t reveal everything (prone to social desirability bias)