Interviews

• Structured - having a standardised set of questions
• Unstructured - having a flexible conversation with none or maybe one question
• Semi-structured - A mixture of both structured and unstructured
• Group (also called a focus group) - access a wide range of views
• Structured advantages - Each interviewee is responding to the same set of questions which means that you can see more of a difference between different interviewees attitudes and opinions based on their answers. Provides the researcher with statistical data. Other researchers can easily replicate or repeat the interview to check the reliability of findings. 
• Structured disadvantages - The interviewees might not tell the interviewer their true thoughts or behaviour as they might give answers that they think the interviewer wants or that are socially acceptable. Interviewees may lie to the interviewer. The age, gender, ethnicity, accent or appearance of the interviewer may influence the interviewees response. 
• Unstructured advantages - They are more flexible as the interviewer is able to ask other questions to stop any misunderstandings from happening or to understand what the interviewee is telling them in more depth. Interviewees are able to talk in their own words and introduce different issues that they consider to be important as to why they are being interviewed that the interviewer might not think of. They allow you to explore more complex issues that you might not be able to explore if you were doing a structured interview such as; childhood, domestic abuse, relationships.
• Unstructured disadvantages - They are time consuming and expensive to do as the interviewers need to be trained and for them to have their salary and travel expenses to be paid. Interviewer has to be able to adapt how they interview someone and to be able to ask the appropriate questions in the interview. Each interview is unique as there are no set questions to follow which would make it difficult to replicate or repeat to check the reliability of the findings.
• Group advantages - Interviewers are able to access a wide range of experiences and views at one time. Individuals from a group interview could be used in individual interviews afterwards to get more developed information and unbiased information from them. Interviewees may feel more comfortable sharing their experiences in a group setting because they may feel supported by other interviewees in the group. House sharers’ experiences of living in shared households, young people's participation in groups such as environmental groups or youth councils. 
• Group disadvantages - The interviewer has to manage the interview carefully especially when a topic comes up that could be sensitive to some of the interviewees. Interviewees may be influenced by other interviewees and some of the individuals may dominate the discussion which means that not everyone's opinions and experiences will be heard.
• Group disadvantages - Some interviewees may be less open in a group interview and some people might prefer a one-to-one interview setting. Researchers can promise to keep all of the interviewees' answers confidential but they can’t guarantee confidentiality in a group interview setting. 
• Semi-structured advantages - Having a set list of questions to stick to but you are able to explore questions further and in more depth. The interviewee is able to have some freedom with what they are saying but the interviewer also has control over where the interview is headed.
• Semi-structured disadvantages - The interviewer has to be able to think on their feet for questions and keep the questions relevant and appropriate for the topic that is being interviewed for. Hard to replicate and repeat as other researchers don’t know what questions have gone into more depth. 
• PET: For interviews it can take a lot of time and access to be able to find a time and place where the interviewer and interviewee are able to get to to be able to complete their interview. For unstructured interviews it may be harder as you want the person to be more comfortable so you might have the interview in a place where the interviewee feels the most comfortable.
• PET: It would be really hard to make sure that everyone is comfortable if you are doing a group interview as the interviewer will have to select a time that all of the interviewees can do the interview and also not have it too far away for some but really close for others. An ethical thing that interviewers will have to keep in mind is to try and not cause any unnecessary offence to the interviewees and also to make sure that they know exactly what they are signing up for.
• PET: The interviewee should be able to withdraw from the interview or any following interview whenever they want. Interviews give the interviewer/researcher more validity as this allows the interviewer to be able to measure how true a picture the research is giving them of the subject that they are researching.