Structured interviews

Structured interviews

1. Ethical

   • Advantages
     • Relatively few problems
   • Disadvantages
     • Pressure to answer q's

2. Validity

   • Advantages
     • Less chance of interviewer bias
   • Disadvantages
     • Social desirability effect - give answers they think the interviewer wants to hear
     • Cannot raise new issues
     • Lack flexibility
     • Interviewer effect

3. Representative

   • Advantages
     • Likely to be representative as they are quite quick to conduct
   • Disadvantages
     • cannot reach huge numbers reached by postal questionnaires

4. Theory

   • Advantages
     • Positivists like structured interviews as they like the standardised, scientific approach and can obtain quantitative data
       • Fixed list of closed-ended questions - answers can be classifed and patterns can be identified
         • Generalisations can be made, and cause-effect relationships can be identified
   • Disadvantages
     • Interpretivists
       • Lack validity

5. Practical

   • Advantages
     • Cheap and quick method
     • Limited 'interviewer effect' as contact is limited
     • Higher response rate
   • Disadvantages
     • More costly than other methods as emoloying and training costs
     • Sensitive issues - socially sensitive
     • Artificiality - both aware interview taking place - invalid answers

6. Reliability

   • Advantages
     • High in reliability as pre coded repsonse categories, easily quanitfiable data.
   • Disadvantages
     • Interviewer effect - each interviewer will have different social characteristics and therefore each interview is diffierent