Why Do Some Sociologists Use Interviews?

Compared with questionnaires, interviews are most likely to yield:

• Quantitative statistics only

• Qualitative, in-depth data

• Secondary information

• Highly unreliable results

A key advantage of a structured interview is that the interviewer:

• Builds deep rapport through free conversation

• Uses only open questions throughout

• Changes the wording to suit each respondent

• Poses the same questions in the same order, letting researchers compare answers easily

In an unstructured interview the researcher can ask additional, spontaneous _____ to probe interesting replies.

• Follow-up questions

• Closed questions

• Multiple-choice items

• Postal surveys

When discussing sensitive topics, a disadvantage of structured interviews is the danger of respondents giving:

• Highly reliable data

• Excessive personal detail

• Socially desirable answers to look good

• Complete life histories

Because an interviewer can clarify anything the participant doesn’t understand, structured interviews tend to be higher in:

• Generalisability

• Validity

• Cost efficiency

• Sample size

Unstructured interviews are often time-consuming, meaning researchers can complete fewer of them and therefore find it harder to:

• Build rapport

• Code responses numerically

• Ensure validity

• Generalise from a small sample

Successful unstructured interviews depend heavily on the interviewer’s:

• Communication skills

• Statistical expertise

• Covert observation technique

• Closed-question design ability

The trusting relationship an interviewer develops with an interviewee—especially useful for sensitive subjects—is called:

• Sampling

• Hypothesis testing

• Rapport

• Reliability

An answer given mainly to impress or please the interviewer is labelled a:

• Qualitative response

• Socially desirable response

• Follow-up prompt

• Generalisation

Repeating the same closed questions with many respondents gives structured-interview data that is particularly high in:

• Validity

• Rapport

• Reflexivity

• Reliability