STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS

STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS

1. The interviewer reads out a list of questions and records the answers.

   • Each question is asked in the exact same way for every respondent. Even the prompts are planned in advance.
   • The uniformity of the questioning aims to create reliable data so that answers can be compared to produce quantitative data.

2. WILMOTT & YOUNG

   • In their survey of the symmetrical family in the 70s, used structured interviews.
   • Able to interview 2000 people as structured interviews are not as time consuming as unstructured interviews.

3. ADVANTAGES

   • REPRESENATIVENESS - Structured interviews are not as time consuming as unstructured interviews [see Wilmott and Young] meaning the researcher is able to interview a much larger sample making the results more representive.
     • Both representativeness and reliabilty mean that answers can be compared and accurate generalisations can be made.
   • RELIABLE - All respondents reply to the exact same question. If repeated, another sociologist should get similar results so the data will be reliable.
   • ETHICAL - It is easy to get informed consent.

4. DISADVANTAGES

   • OBJECTIVITY - The researcher's bias may reflect how questions are answered and also may be reflected in the question.