Interviews: Structured, Unstructured and Group
A structured interview uses a fixed set of pre-determined questions asked in the same order and wording to every respondent, similar to a spoken questionnaire, and is favoured by positivists for its reliability.
Before you start
Make sure you're comfortable with these topics first:
Method
- Identify which interview type the question is about, since structured and unstructured interviews usually have opposite strengths and limitations.
- Link structured interviews to reliability and replicability, because the same standardised questions are asked identically to every respondent.
- Link unstructured interviews to validity, because rapport and flexible, open questioning let the interviewer probe for the respondent's true meaning.
- Always be ready to explain interviewer effect or interviewer bias as a validity threat that can occur in any interview, but is a bigger risk in unstructured interviews given the greater interaction involved.
- For group interviews, note the added risk of group effects, such as more vocal participants dominating or peer pressure shaping answers, alongside the benefit of participants building on each other's ideas.
- In evaluation answers, connect the interview type to the perspective that favours it: positivists prefer structured interviews for scientific, comparable data; interpretivists prefer unstructured interviews for rich, valid, in-depth data.
Worked example
A sociologist wants to research the personal experiences of young carers who look after a sick or disabled family member, a sensitive and emotionally complex topic. Explain why an unstructured interview would be more appropriate than a structured interview for this research.
- Identify the nature of the topic: sensitive, emotional and personal, likely to need trust before a respondent opens up fully.
- Note that a structured interview's fixed questions could feel impersonal and might not let a young carer explain their situation in their own words, reducing validity.
- Explain that an unstructured interview allows the sociologist to build rapport, ask follow-up questions, and let the young carer lead the conversation, producing richer, more valid data on their true experiences and feelings.
- Conclude that because the priority for this topic is depth and validity rather than a large, easily comparable dataset, the unstructured interview is the more appropriate method.
Practice questions
Try each question, then tap to reveal the answer.
Q1What is a structured interview?Show answer
Answer: An interview using a fixed, pre-determined list of questions, asked in the same order and wording to every respondent.
Q2What is meant by 'rapport' in an unstructured interview?Show answer
Answer: A relationship of trust and understanding built between the interviewer and respondent, which can encourage more honest and detailed answers.
Q3Give one reason unstructured interviews are harder to replicate than structured interviews.Show answer
Answer: The questions asked vary between respondents, so a different interviewer cannot ask exactly the same questions in exactly the same way to check the results.
Q4What is meant by 'interviewer effect' or 'interviewer bias'?Show answer
Answer: When a respondent's answers are influenced by the characteristics, reactions or behaviour of the interviewer, rather than being their true, unaffected view.
Q5State one advantage of a group interview over a one-to-one interview.Show answer
Answer: Participants can respond to and build on each other's comments, which can generate ideas or reveal shared views that might not emerge in a one-to-one interview.
Q6Give one reason positivist sociologists tend to prefer structured interviews.Show answer
Answer: They produce standardised, more easily quantifiable and comparable data, similar to a spoken questionnaire, which better suits testing a hypothesis.
Q7State one practical disadvantage of unstructured interviews for a researcher with a large sample and limited time.Show answer
Answer: They take much longer to conduct and to analyse or transcribe than structured interviews, making them impractical for large samples with tight deadlines.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a GCSE Sociology exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Explain two strengths of using structured interviews to research pupils' revision habits.
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A sociologist conducts a structured interview about experiences of bullying, reading out the same 10 fixed questions to every pupil. Evaluate the validity of the data this structured interview is likely to produce on pupils' experiences of bullying.
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Discuss whether unstructured interviews produce more valid data than structured interviews.
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See real GCSE Sociology past-paper questions, with official mark schemes →
Free printable worksheet
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