Interview types differ by fixed questions
An interview collects data by asking a participant questions and recording their spoken answers. The three types differ in how far the questions are fixed in advance. Structured: the same fixed questions in the same order, like a spoken questionnaire. Semi-structured: fixed core questions plus follow-ups. Unstructured: no fixed questions, starting from a general topic and developing freely. Structure falls from structured to unstructured.
More structure vs more depth trade-off
The strengths and weaknesses run along the spectrum. A structured interview uses the same questions in the same order, so it is standardised — easy to replicate and compare — but rigid: unexpected answers cannot be followed up. An unstructured interview is flexible, gathering rich, qualitative data, but no two are alike, so it is hard to replicate and compare and open to interviewer bias. Semi-structured is the compromise.
Match the interview type to the aim
Match the interview type to the aim. A structured interview suits comparable, often quantitative data — a survey where every answer must line up. An unstructured interview suits understanding an experience in depth — how someone felt recovering from a phobia — where the material is qualitative and unpredictable. A semi-structured interview suits both. The choice: does the aim need breadth and comparison (more structure) or depth (less)?
Drawn from real examiner reports.
Name the fixed-question feature
Asked what a structured interview is, candidates fall back on 'a conversation' or 'asking someone questions'. That describes any interview, so it does not identify the structured type and earns little. Name the defining feature: every participant is asked the same fixed questions in the same order, like a spoken questionnaire.
June 2022 P2 Q3a
'Explain' a strength is not 'describe' it
'Explain a strength' is not 'describe'. Naming a feature earns little; marks come from why it is a strength and its consequence. Weak: 'a structured interview gives everyone the same questions.' Full: same questions, same order → standardised, so it can be repeated to check results and the answers compared fairly. Feature, why, consequence.
June 2023/2024 P2 Summaries; June 2024 P1 Q11b
AO3 needs AO2 — link to the study
When a study is given and you must evaluate the interview, a point that floats free earns no evaluation marks: AO3 cannot be awarded without AO2. Not application: naming the researcher or repeating the stem. Application: 'because every student got the same ten questions in the same order, another researcher could repeat it, so results can be checked.' Applied point first.
June 2023 P2 Q31; June 2019 P1 Summary
Interview vs questionnaire
An interview and questionnaire both ask questions, but delivery differs. In an interview questions are asked and answered out loud, so the interviewer can clarify and follow up; a questionnaire is written and done alone. Speaking and recording spoken answers is an interview; fixed spoken questions make it structured, not a questionnaire.
Semi-structured needs BOTH features
A semi-structured interview has both features at once, and candidates lose marks by picking one extreme. Noticing follow-ups, they call it unstructured; noticing fixed questions, structured. Neither alone is right. It has a fixed core every participant is asked and the freedom to add follow-ups — both together make it the compromise.
Fixed questions, not tone or length
Because 'structured' sounds formal and 'unstructured' casual, students judge from tone or length — a long chat seems unstructured, a short one structured. Wrong test. What defines it is how far the questions are fixed in advance: structured completely fixed; semi a core plus follow-ups; unstructured none. Ask 'how much was fixed?', not 'how formal?'.
Top band on the 12-mark methods essay
The 12-mark 'Evaluate' can be set on the interview. AO1 (weakest): explain the sub-types — structured (fixed questions, set order), semi (core + follow-ups), unstructured (none). AO2: use the study constantly. AO3: balance comparability vs depth, then conclude.
AO1: explain the three sub-types
AO1 is the persistent weakness: don't stop at 'asking questions'. Define the three sub-types — structured (fixed questions, set order), semi (core + follow-ups), unstructured (none) — with their data: structured quantitative, unstructured qualitative.
Compare needs connectives
On a 'compare' (structured vs unstructured), describing one then the other with no connective is an implicit comparison, losing marks. Use connectives (whereas, however, but): 'structured is standardised, whereas unstructured is flexible.' Then judge which fits.
An interview is a research method in which a researcher collects data by asking a participant questions, usually face to face, and recording their spoken answers. The three types differ in how far the questions are fixed in advance.
Interview — a research method that gathers data by asking a participant questions and recording their spoken answers.
Structured interview — an interview in which every participant is asked the same fixed questions in the same order, with no deviation (like a spoken questionnaire).
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