Unstructured interviews, also called open-ended or exploratory interviews, are the least rigid type of interview. They resemble more of an informative conversation rather than a series of questions. The goal of an unstructured interview is to elicit answers other than “yes” or “no”. These types of interviews can unpack main ideas, discover new information, and offer important insights on the context of the study (Rubin & Rubin, 2011). Researchers do not bring a list of predetermined questions to unstructured interviews. Rather, they simply have topics of interest in mind, which can be loosely sketched out in their interview guide. Don’t be afraid to deviate from this initial guide, however. Unstructured interviews are the most likely type of interview to generate unexpected, yet extremely valuable, responses. By using probing questions, the conversation can uncover topics of importance to the interviewee and to your research question that you had not previously considered.
Unstructured interviews often follow a “person-centered” approach meant to empower individuals. The researcher’s main role is to be an active and engaged listener. Giving your participants time to reflect on their experiences reveals a lot about their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. A person-centered interview might open with the question “tell me about a typical day at work?” From there, the interviewee determines the conversation topics and the researcher follows. Social science researchers have successfully adapted these approaches from methods used in psychotherapy, conflict transformation work, support groups, and nonviolent communication.
For Example …
In her book Black Food Geographies, Ashanté Reese combined unstructured interviews with surveys and demographic data to understand the shopping habits of residents of Deanwood in Washington, D.C. Reese chose unstructured interviews to let the participants lead the conversations after asking a general question about the local Safeway grocery store and then asking further questions based on their initial responses. From the unstructured interview data, Reese concluded that “even when the Safeway was close or convenient, it was often not chosen as the first place to grocery shop for many residents, particularly those with transportation or more money” (Reese, 2019, p. 52). Reese supported this statement by including the participants’ word-for-word responses in her book.
The pros and cons of unstructured interviews are laid out in the chart below:
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Very flexible | Time consuming, so not a great choice if you have a bigger sample size |
| Participants can speak in depth on particular areas of interest | Interviewer should be skilled and feel comfortable going “off script” |
| Researchers can ask for clarification via probing questions | More opportunity for implicit bias when asking questions since questions are not predetermined |
| Conversation is steered by participants | Difficult to compare data |
| More equal balance of power between interviewer and interviewee |
Unstructured interviews still require a lot of preparation! Having an interview guide prepared with topics of interest, as well as practicing active listening and rapport, is essential to a successful unstructured interview.
