Interviews
Structured Interviews: Identical questions are read to participants and the interviewer writes down the answers
Unstructured Interviews: These are less controlled and involve an informal discussion. The particular topic is predetermined but the direction of the interview isn't.
Strengths
Easy to deal with misunderstandings: When conducting an interview, ambiguity or misunderstanding can be clarified and the researcher can make sure that participants understand the questions
Validity of Findings: May provide more details because of talking to someone, but its hard to see if they were being honest. If they reveal more it my cause psychological harm.
Qualitative Data: more likely to provide greater detail and depth and greater diversity of answers. avoids participant frustration being kept to one a choice of answers
Replicable (structured interviews) - standardised questions are quite simple to replicate
Flexibility (unstructured interviews): Explore more complex issues that may be difficult to replicate through experimental techniques.
Limitations
Self-Report data may not be valid: may give socially desirable answers to be seen in a favourable light.
Speed of data collection and analysis: interview individually and then analyse - can be time consuming and expensive for the researcher.
Interviewer Effects: May inadvertently influence the respondents answers by the way they ask the questions or through body language
Researcher Bias: Misinterpretation of data can occur in interviews and they interpret participants answers in a way that supports their hypothesis
Unstructured interviews: do not use standardised questions - difficult to replicate.
Structured Interviews: use standardised questions any unexpected response cannot be pursued for more detail - unlikely to gain more detailed information
Interviews involve asking people for information face to face
Standardised to reduce interviewer bias. Interviewer will take notes throughout and be recorded and analysed later.
One-to-one interviews: conducted in a quiet room as this makes it more likely that the participant will open up
Interpersonal issues should be taken into consideration when designing an interview - such as gender or age of interviewer - could affect the honesty of participants