what is structured interviews?
- is conducted in the same formal, standardized way
- often has quantitative answers and has closed questions
what is unstructured interviews?
- informal
- guided conversation, the interviewer has freedom to vary the question
- qualitative and deep answers
Who supports unstructured and why?
- Interpretivists
- it is seen as more valid as they have more detailed and qualitative answers
Who supports structured and why?
- positivists
- it is representative and reliable as it is easy to replicate because questions are the same for each interview and the answers are quantitative
what are the practical strengths of structured interviews?
- is not time consuming in context of training
- cost efficient due to no training
what are the practical weaknesses of structured interviews?
- planning questions are time consuming
- information is not as utilising
what are the ethical strengths of structural interviews?
- consent is given so no fear of deception
what are the ethical weaknesses of structural interviews?
- lying if they’re uncomfortable
- affects validity
what are the theoretical strengths of structural interviews?
- positivists see it as reliable and Representative due to short answers given
what are the theoretical weaknesses of structural interviews?
- interpretivists see it as not valid due to quantitative data collected
what are the practical strengths of unstructured interviews?
- more deeper answer
- qualitative answers
what are the practical weaknesses of unstructured interviews?
- cost needed for training
- time consuming due to variation of questions
- hard to evaluate results
what are the ethical strengths of unstructured interviews?
- consent
what are the ethical weaknesses of structural interviews?
- they could ask a personal or offensive question
what are the theoretical strengths of unstructural interviews?
- able to get as close to the real picture as you can
what are the theoretical weaknesses of unstructural interviews?
- nor reliable or representative so you cant replicate it as questions and answers vary
- validity could differ, interaction between the interviewer and interviewee may result in distorted answers
