Interviews (AQA GCSE Psychology)

Structured interviews

• An interview is a type of  self-report which involves a participant answering a range of questions put to them by a researcher i.e. it is a one-to-one process (though it can happen over a phone, online or via other remote channels)

• Interviews are designed to collect the thoughts, feelings, attitudes and opinions of the participant

• Interviews may be used in the following ways:

  • To understand how people feel about issues such as immigration, social media, the cost of living etc.

  • As part of a larger case study into the unique experience/condition of one participant (or a small group) 

• There are 3 types of interviews used in psychological research:

  • Structured Interview

  • Unstructured Interview

  • Semi-Structured interview 

• A structured interview is as follows:

  • The researcher uses a series of pre-prepared closed or open questions

  • The participant's responses are written down by the researcher (or recorded using audio/visual equipment)

  • The researcher does not veer from the ‘script’ which is why this type of interview is known as a structured interview

  • Structured interviews produce quantitative data (e.g. ‘number’ of ‘yes’ responses to a specific question) and qualitative data in the form of ‘follow-up’ questions e.g. ‘Can you explain why you feel like that’?

Unstructured interviews

• An  unstructured interview is as follows:

  • The researcher comes to the interview with no pre-prepared set of questions - they keep an open mind as to how the interview will proceed

  • The researcher writes down (or records using audio/visual equipment) the participant’s responses

  • The interview is treated as a conversation, giving the participants as much freedom as they wish in their responses

  • Unstructured interviews will generally start with the researcher asking an open question or posing an idea and then allowing the participant to give a free response. e.g.:

    • ‘Lots of people think that there should be harsher punishments for criminals….what do you think?’

    • ‘Tell me about a time when you felt anxious about something’

    • ‘Social media seems to dominate some people’s lives…’

• Unstructured interviews produce qualitative data only

• Unstructured interviews are also known as narrative interviews as the interview is more like the participant telling a story i.e. they have ‘creative freedom’ as it were

Semi-structured interviews

• A semi-structured interview is as follows:

  • The researcher uses some pre-prepared questions but they come to the interview with something of an open mind as well

  • The participant’s responses are written down (or recorded using audio/visual equipment)

  • The researcher can veer from the ‘script’ if the participant:

    • Says something interesting or unexpected

    • Is finding it difficult to discuss a topic

    • Is not being very forthcoming and needs extra encouragement

• Semi-structured interviews can produce both quantitative data and qualitative data as they are a mixture of both structured and unstructured interview styles

Evaluation of interviews

Strengths

• As interviews are performed on a one-to-one basis they help participants to express themselves any way they wish, sometimes without any constraints, making them high in validity

• Interviews are a more flexible method than questionnaires as they don’t use a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, allowing for questions to be changed, adapted, modified etc.

Weaknesses

• Interviews can sometimes generate too much information which may be difficult to analyse or not very useful

• Interview data cannot be generalised beyond the immediate participant which means that general conclusions about human behaviour cannot be drawn from them