Interviews can range from planned and specific to exploratory and conversational. In this section you will learn about the spectrum of interview types ranging from structured to unstructured.
Below is an overview of the different interview methodologies (Avineri, 2017).
| Structured | Semi-Structured | Unstructured |
|---|---|---|
| Questions are decided in advance | The interview is led by a pre-prepared guide, but responses are open ended | The interviewee takes control of the conversation |
| Emphasizes differences in responses among an unchanging set of questions | Emphasizes specific instances, settings, individuals, themes, and activities | Emphasis on broad circumstance and general themes |
| Sequences and topics predetermined and controlled by the interviewer | Sequence and topics controlled by interviewer | Sequence and topics controlled by participant |
| Has prepared questions with fixed order | Has prepared questions with varied order | Has open ended follow-up questions without order |
| Categorizes interviewees according to their responses | Finds patterns within cases (individuals or events) and themes in a qualitative data set | Identifies new domains or dimensions of the study |
You may use multiple types of interviews as your project proceeds. For example, at the start of the process you may benefit from having a few semi-structured or unstructured interviews to get a sense of the topics that are most important to your participants. Once those early interviews help to clarify your research question, turning to structured interviews—where you ask the same questions of all participants—may benefit your project. Alternatively, you may want to start your data collection with highly structured questions to test if they elicit the responses you expected. If those initial conversations confirm your initial assumptions, you may turn to semi-structured interviews as the primary method for your data collection.
For Example…
In Listening to People, Annette Lareau describes how the interviews she conducted for her landmark study Unequal Childhoods became more focused as the research unfolded. The ultimate research question was: “How does social class shape the cultural logics of child rearing?” As she and her research team gathered data to answer that question, they relied on specific interview questions that benefited from various approaches to interviewing.
- At the start of the project, unstructured interviews allowed the researchers to gather information for the general question, “How does social class shape kids’ lives outside of school?”
- Once the researchers had a deeper understanding of the issues, semi-structured interviews helped them answer the question, “How does gender affect the after-school activities of kids by class?”
- Finally, structured interviews with children offered the best method to ask, “What role do kids’ preferences play in their activities?”
Group Interviews
The final types of interviews you will learn about in this section are group interviews, also commonly known as focus groups. Group interviews, where participants lead the conversation and influence each other, include elements of structured, semi-structured, and unstructured interviews. They emphasize differences and similarities between participants’ ideas and experiences related to topics selected by the interviewer.
