Unstructured interviews

• What are some advantages of unstructured interviews?

  • rapport- trust- validity
  • good way to research sensitive topics
  • verstehen- see things through the eyes of the interviewees- true empathy- validity
  • qualitative- in depth- motives,emotions,reasons etc- validity icreased
  • flexibility- open convo- respondents can develop
• what are group interviews?

  In depth interviews with a small group of people
• Advantages of group interviews

  • People open up as they feel more comfy- power relationship reduced- answers are more valid
  • richer reflective data- participants bounce ideas off eachother
• What is an example of unstructured interviews about domestic abuse?


  Dobash and Dobash- study into domestic abuse- built rapport which means they became 'permenant fixtures' in the womens lives. Got to know everything about their lives. Interviews lasted up to 12 hrs.
• Whta is an example of group interviews that study the 'lads' in school?


  Willis- uncover the counter school subculture of the 'lads'. The 'lads' felt free to openly talk about how they viewed school, teachers, schoolwork etc
• What are some disadvantages of unstructured interviews?

  • sample size small- time consuming- lowers reliability- hard to get representative sample and generalise
  • no preset questions- difficult to verify and reliability is lowered
  • can lack objectivity- the presence, facial expressions, body lang, can effect answers. Interviewer can offer own opinions which can bias. Validity lowered
  • interviewer characteristics- power inequality- lowers validity
• What are some disadvantages of group interviews?

  • some participants may dominate discussions so only understand one/few members
  • peer group pressure- lowers validity
  • data generated is more complex and difficult to analyse