What kind of research is an interview best suited to?

Structured and unstructured interviews, open and closed questions, case studies, observation with behavioural categories, and inter-observer reliability.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started

Key term

What is the difference between a structured and an unstructured interview?

Evaluation

Give one strength and one weakness of a structured interview.

Evaluation

Give one strength and one weakness of an unstructured interview.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
What is the difference between a structured and an unstructured interview?
Model answer
A structured interview asks every participant the same set questions in the same order. An unstructured interview is more like a conversation, with questions following the participant's answers.
2
Give one strength and one weakness of a structured interview.
Model answer
A structured interview is easy to repeat, and the answers can be compared across participants. Answers are limited by the set questions, so detail may be lost.
3
Give one strength and one weakness of an unstructured interview.
Model answer
An unstructured interview gathers rich, detailed answers and can follow up anything interesting. The answers are hard to compare, and the interviewer may influence them.
4
What kind of research is an interview best suited to?
Model answer
An interview suits research into people's experiences and feelings in depth, such as how someone coped with a stressful event.
5
What is a questionnaire?
Model answer
A questionnaire is a set of written questions that participants answer themselves, on paper or online.
6
What is the difference between an open question and a closed question?
Model answer
A closed question offers a fixed set of answers, such as yes or no. An open question lets the participant answer freely in their own words.

See the rest and revise

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

1Closed book

2Open book

3Closed book

See a huge jump in your memorisation

Answer cold, learn it, then prove it stuck. Levo tracks the jump between your first attempt and your last.

Memory

Perception

Development

Research Methods

Cram a whole paper in one sitting

Sort every topic into what you know and what you do not, then drill only the weak ones.

A sample time and money.

saveswastescosts

Blank Blitz consolidates the facts

Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

AHeart rate and breathing speed up and the pupils dilate.

BDigestion slows and sweating increases.

CThe muscles tense, ready for action.

Build It trains answer structure

Assemble a full-mark answer from its marking points, in the order an examiner wants them.

A mean score of 0.4682 is 0.47 to two significant figures.

TrueFalse

Test It catches misconceptions

Spot the fault in a statement. The traps are the mistakes students actually make.

721941163128510

Brain Breaks between sessions

Short focus games to reset attention, so the next set lands better than the last.

Every question in Research Methods, on a schedule.

Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.

Start revising, £5 a month See how the method works

Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.