Structured Interviews

Structured Interviews

1. There are two main types of interviews: structured and unstructured, with semi-structured being the middle ground and group interviews being another option.

   • Structured interviews are almost like face-to-face questionnaires. The interviewer asks the same questions each time, word for word, with the same tone of voice etc. and the responses are recorded by the trained interviewer, not the interviewee.

2. PRACTICAL

   • Training interviewees can be relatively inexpensive, BUT it can still be more costly than just sending out questionnaires.
   • Structured interviews are also able to cover a wide sample in lot a lot of time due to how straightforward the structure is, BUT other methods such as postal questionnaires may be able to cover an even wider area.
     • HOWEVER, the 'response rate' for interviews is much higher.
       • Wilmott and Young: only 54 out of 987 people refused to be interviewed.
       • Those who take part are more likely to be representative, not just "the type of person to respond" e.g. someone with time on their hands, which could occur with questionnaires.
   • Results from closed- ended questions are easily quantifiable.
     • And therefore are favoured by positivists.

3. ETHICAL

   • Consent is, as always, a consideration, but it is not a big problem when it comes to interviews.
   • Some people may object to certain intrusive questions or subject matters, especially if they don't think they're age-appropriate.
   • Some feminists argue that structured interviews can give a distorted view of a woman's experience, and this can be applied to any group within society.
     • The researcher is in control of the interview and decides what is and isn't important to ask.
     • The researcher's ideas about women, or the group which they are questioning, can be imposed, possibly concealing unequal power relationships between groups.
     • Survey methods don't always consider context, and structured interviews especially so.

4. THEORETICAL

   • Structured interviews are quite easy to standardise and control, and so are seen as quite RELIABLE.
     • It's easy to repeat the experiments and make comparisons between different groups.
   • POSITIVISTS may favour this method.
   • INTERACTIONALISTS may prefer to use other methods.
   • Structured interviews may not be very good forms of research at collecting VALID data.
     • There is little freedom for interviewees to express what they MEAN.
     • Closed-ended, heavily structured questions may limit an interviewee's responses: they might not be able to choose an answer which is true to them.
     • Gender, age and ethnic differences between the interviewer and interviewee may affect responses.