unstructured

• An unstructured interview is when they introduce a topic broadly which is then open for the participants to respond to and create a discussion.
• This interview is able to obtain attitudes and opinions, this produces qualitative data.

  • Interpretivists prefer unstructured interviews as it allows them to understand meaning
• Practical issues of an unstructured interview is:

  • Less time consuming and costly than some other research methods
  • They are able to develop a rapport to get deeper meaning
  • Need to have an experienced researcher to understand what questions to ask next
  • Can be used when other methods cant be, eg. observation is too dangerous
• Ethical issues of an unstructured interview is:

  • Effective on sensitive subjects as they are able to build a rapport and likely to open up
  • May not be guaranteed privacy or anonymity
• Theoretical issues of an unstructured interview is:

  • Greater validity as they are able to get more insight
  • Hard to generalize from qualitative data
  • Unreliable as they do not have a set list of questions
  • Unrepresentative as sample tends to be smaller due to going in depth
  • Social desirability answer to tell researcher what they want to hear
  • Interviewer effect which may bias responses