AS Sociology

Structured Unstructured Semi structured Focus groups

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvTDtFn3hWE

These are preferred by Positivist These are based on a structured,

closed-ended/ pre-coded questionnaire. The questionnaire in an interview is referred to as an ‘interview schedule’.

The interviewer will not stray from the interview schedule

Read the passage on page 196 and carry out the activity.

Can collect more complex and detailed data

Reach a wider range of respondents (overcome the literacy problem)

Have an improved response rate (70-80%)

Quick to do (as not dependent on postal return)

Greater flexibility in asking (and answering of questions)

Individual attention can be given to help respondents (explain/repeat questions)

Can be used with all sections of the population (more representative)

Interviewer presence can make answering questions more interesting for respondent

Fewer ‘don’t knows’ when face to face

Very costly Time consuming Need to train interviewees Wages for interviewees Interviewer can can sometimes

forget/misinterpret a response Face to face interaction may influence

respondents

The emotional state of the interviewee could affect their responses

Interview situation is always artificial What people say and do are not always

the same (validity issue). Only gain a ‘snapshot’ of population at a

certain time

Preferred by interpretivists More like a ‘guided or focused

conversation’ than a strict structured interview

An interview schedule might not be used, and if one is used, it will contain open-ended questions that can be asked in any order

The data produced is qualitative, thus researcher usually record their data on a tape recorder, which they can listen and write up later.

Reading page 197 ‘unstructured interviews’ answer the following questions:Explain the advantages of allowing

interviewees ‘the freedom to talk in their own terms’.

What do you see as the disadvantages of tape-recorded interviews

Semi-Structured InterviewUses a mix of closed-ended/pre-coded and

open-ended questions Focus group (group interviews)

Refers to interviews where a dozen or so respondents are interviewed together

Can be structured or un-structured but usually are semi-structured

Read page 195 and Box 26, and answer the following questionsWhy might the data obtained from two semi-

structured interviews on the same topic not be strictly comparable?

Suggest one advantage and one disadvantage of using group interviews rather than one-to-one interviews

Whenever critiquing an interview method, regardless of the type of interview, Interviewer Bias can always be raised as an evaluative consideration

This refers to the way the behaviour (or simply the presence) of the interviewer may influence the responses that they receive from the respondent.

This could be affected by the following characteristics of the interviewer

SOCIAL Characteristics The Interviewer’s Age, Gender, Ethnicity,

perceived Social Class, Accent PERSONAL Characteristics

The Interviewer’s Body Language , Tone of Voice, Style of Dress, Appearance.

STATUS DIFFERENCES Whether or not the interviewer shares status

& power with the respondent or decides to keep a distance & clear power division.

LEADING QUESTIONS Prompted the respondent to answer

questions in a particular way and/or making assumptions about the respondent within the questions asked.

TASK Working in small groups design a short

interview on STUDENTS AMBITIONS, consider the following within your interview schedule:Expectations of educationWhat they want How they get there Importance of career/family

Conduct the interview

As a class we will compare how the findings differed between the ambitions of boys and girls

1. Explain what is meant by ‘RAPPORT’2. Suggest one advantage and one

disadvantage of using structured interviews rather than un-structured interviews

3. What does ‘interviewer bias’ mean?4. Suggest two strengths of using group

interviews rather than one-to-one interviews

Interviews– Education Context

1. Practical IssuesStructured interviews

•Language issues – young people are not as wordy/literate as adults

•Students reluctant to talk

•Not understand abstract concepts/terms

•Boredom – short attention span

•Interpret NVC/body language differently to adults

Can effect results and interfere with validity of evidence..so unstructured interviews may be more useful.

•Waffling – children can drift off the point (Powney/Watts) - too literal.

•Training needs to be extensive to avoid this = increased costs

•Schools are riddled with gossip/rumour – when other children learn about interviews – will affect others!

2. Reliability•Young people (in structured interviews) may not produce valid data in ‘formal context’.

•Di Bentley – used funny image at the start of each interview to relax the atmosphere.. Was very mindful of her body language/tone

•With unstructured interviews – not standardised – cant compare

5. Improving validity (strategies)•Greene and Hogan used: open ended questions/not interrupt answers/tolerate long pauses/avoid leading questions/avoid repeating questions

•Unstructured interviews lessen barriers/gain rapport/open

3. Access & Response Rate

•Problems accessing teachers/pupils in school hierarchy

•Schools not permit interviews in lesson time as disrupt learning – students not want to give up own time also

•Parental permission needed and this varies by topic (Field had 29% refusal rate on sexual health research)

4. Power and Status

•In school – students have little power than teachers. If they see interviewer as ‘the man’ then they may lie/exaggerate etc – invalid

•Bell ‘teacher in disguise’

•Students may want to appear more conformist to avoid trouble

6. Group interviews•Pupils may be influenced by peers – less valid data

•Students can ‘egg each other on’

•But these can reduce power imbalance

•They also reveal interactions (and give meaning) to group behaviour

Paul Willis – Learning to Labour