AO3 - Interviews

• A strength of structured interviews is that all participants get the same questions meaning that it is possible to compare responses and identify trends and patterns much more easily about (AO2) unlike unstructured interviews where participants get different questions, therefore it’s hard to make comparisons.
• A limitation of structured interviews is that the researcher cannot deviate from the pre-set questions meaning they cannot follow up on new lines of enquiry. This may mean they do not get a full understanding of behaviour (AO2) unlike in an unstructured interview where questions can be developed based on responses from previous questions.
• A strength of unstructured interviews is that the researcher can allow the person to go into more depth with their responses as questions are based on the responses of the interviewer. This means that they can gain a fuller understanding of the participants behaviour (AO2), unlike a structured interview where participants only answer a set list of questions where there is no deviation, increasing the internal validity of an unstructured interview.
• A weakness of unstructured interviews is that it can be hard to identify patterns and trends as all participants are asked different questions (AO2 - What will the questions investigate?) making the responses harder to analyse and make comparisons between participants unlike a structured interview where all participants answer the same questions.
• A further weakness of unstructured interviews is that it is much more difficult to replicate an unstructured interview as each participant is asked different questions (AO2 - What will the questions be investigating?) based upon their responses unlike a structured interview which has a standardised set of questions and can be repeated many times. This lowers the reliability of an unstructured interview.
• One strength of interviews is that as the researcher is present during an interview, the participants can ask for clarification if they do not understand a question or the researcher could ask for clarification if they do not understand a response, therefore improving the internal validity of the research, unlike in a questionnaire where the researcher is not present and therefore clarification cannot be established, lowering the internal validity.
• A weakness of interviews is that interviews are more time consuming and expensive as the questions are asked face to face and so require a 1:1 with a researcher unlike a questionnaire which are less time consuming and expensive as they can be given to lots of participants to complete and does not take as much time as the researcher does not need to be present.
• Another weakness of interviews is that they are prone to investigator effects. As the researcher needs to be present, their behaviours (for example how they respond to a participant’s answer; AO2) or appearance (for example their gender; AO2) could influence the participants to respond in a certain way, therefore affecting the outcome of the study and lowering the internal validity. Unlike a questionnaire, where the researcher does not need to be present and therefore less prone to investigator effects.