Interviews

Interviews

1. There are two types of questionnaires, structured and unstructured.

2. 1) An interview is a conversation between a researcher and an interview where the researcher asks a set of questions.

   • 2) You have to pick the sample, organise the interview, select/train your interviewrs, ask the questions and record the answers. Bias can get in they way at each stage. An interviewer should create a friendly relaxed atmposhere.

3. Structured interviews are questionnaires given face to face

   • 1) Structured interviews are like questionnaires given to individuals or groups, except an interviewer is present to ask the questions
     • 2) Structured interviews ask the same questions each time. The questions are closed questions, with a set of multiple choice questions
       • 3) They give quantative data and they're very reliable
         • 4) They're used in large scale social groups
     • 5) The main plus point of a structured interview is that the interviewer can explain and clarify the questions.
       • 6) Also, most structured interviews get am much higher response rate than questioannires. People tend to agree to be interviewd (unless the research topic is sensitive or taboo.)
         • 7) However, they're more expsenive than questionnaires, you need to pay for the interviewer
           • 8) The interviwer has to follow the list of questions so they can't ask for more detail if the respodnent says something partularly intresting.

4. Unstructured interviews give qualtitive data

   • 1) Unstructured interviews are informal, with no rigid structure.
     • 2) They are flexible, they be used to find ou facts or attitudes
       • 3) They 're good for researching senstive issues where the interviwer has to gain the respondent's trust, for example, sexuaility, domestic violence or crime.
         • 4) They use open ended quetions and give quailityive data. They're quite vaild.
           • 5) The interviewer needs to have skill so they can probe to find out more detail about the interviwee's opinions.
             • 6) They're used with similar samples, which mean they're not very representative
               • 7) It takes a long time to write up an unstructured interview, you have to write down a whole conversation, not just the answers to a particualr multiple choice questions.
   • Interveiwers can have an effect on people's answers
     • 1) Resepondents in interviews may give the sort of answer they think the interviewer wants to hear, or the exact opposite, if they're feeling uncooperative.
       • 2) Intrviewrs can give a subitle direction towards ceratin responses, often without realising they're doing it.
         • 3) These are known as 'interviwer effects' or (researchers effects). They make the data less valid.
     • Sociologist Becker (1970) suggestsed that an aggressive interview stycle could actually uncover more henst responses that a participant might otherwise have kept to themselves.