Interviews (Evaluation)

Interviews (Evaluation)

1. Structured

   • PRACTICAL
     • A large audience, gains straightforward facts, the results are easily quantified, high response rate
     • It's costly to hire people, an inflexible method, only provides a snapshot of the current time (doesn't show any trends)
   • ETHICAL
     • Extra care has to be taken for vulnerable people (e.g. children or people with mental illnesses), some people may feel under pressure to reveal information
   • RELIABILITY
     • Good reliability because the questions are preset and standardised, easy for someone to be conducted.
   • VALIDITY
     • Mostly closed questions so lacks freedom, chance of lies, reflects the concerns of the researcher, characteristics of the researcher and interviewee can cause tension, social desirability, interviewer bias (e.g. leading questions)
   • EXAMPLES
   • THEORETICAL
     • Preferred by positivists because it's possible to test hypotheses and find correlations. Disliked by feminists because of the expoitative nature that is patriarchal. Researcher has an active role, interviewee has a passive role.
   • REPRESENTATIVENESS
     • Representative to an extent, it's usually untypical people who have time for the interview

2. Structured

   • PRACTICAL
     • Produces detailed qualitative data, informality=able to build rapport, opportunity to ask follow up questions, flexible, freedom for the interviewee, mostly open questions, hard to quantify results.
     • Time consuming, more training is needed compared to structured interviews.
   • ETHICAL
     • Extra care has to be taken for vulnerable people (e.g. children or people with mental illnesses), some people may feel under pressure to reveal information, confidentiality
   • RELIABILITY
     • Not very reliable because there are no preset Qs
   • VALIDITY
     • High validity because it allows detail and understanding. Grounded theory - going in with an open mind, good to investigate unfamiliar subjects. Interviewees freedom might produce more insight.
     • Positivists say that the interviewer has to analyse the answers given by the interviewee, so the view we get is through the eyes of the sociologist.
   • EXAMPLES
   • THEORETICAL
     • Feminists prefer unstructured interviews because they allow for a more intimate and personal view . Preferred by interpretivists.

3. Group