Understanding Different Types of Interviews in Research

Differences between Semi-structured and structured interviews

Atkinson & Coffey (2002) say that while there are two main types of interviews, some researchers might find it challenging to differentiate and choose the correct type that would deliver the best data type they need. Furthermore, according to Apan et al (2012), choosing the correct interview structure is the first step towards collecting the most desired data for achieving objectives because different interview structures are designed for different types of data.

Structured Interviews

Structured interviews involve the use of particular or predetermined types of questions. The interviewer goes into the interviewing session knowing the exact number and order of questions they will ask, and all interviewees are asked the same kind of questions in the same order (Bloor & Wood, 2006). Therefore, structured interviews are also called standardized interviews.

Advantage of Structured Interviews

Because interviewees are asked the same type of questions, it is easier to evaluate the data in the most objective way with structured interviews.

Semi-Structured Interviews

Contrastingly, semi-structured interviews are a type of interview whereby the interviewer develops only a few structured and predetermined questions while the rest of the questions are not predetermined (Gisselle & Lotte, 2018). Therefore, in semi-structured interviews, the researcher asks only one predetermined question and follows up with other spontaneously arising questions to form a kind of free-flowing conversation with the interviewee. Therefore, according to Given (2008), semi-structured interviews are also called hybrid interviews because as opposed to structured interviews with standardized questions, they are a mix of standardized and non-standardized questions.

Advantages of Semi-Structured Interviews

With semi-structure interviews, researchers are able to compare the information from different respondents while at the same time have a more spontaneous and personalized approach that allows an evaluation of the interviewee’s perspective on specific points of discussion (Given, 2008).

Thematic Analysis

This section entails a thematic analysis of a conversation between an interviewer and the interviewee. Friendship emerged as the main theme of the conversation, with several sub-themes including motives for making friends and maintaining friendships as illustrated below:

Motives for Friendship

An analysis of the interview reveals that friendship is a vital necessity of people’s lives because humans cannot stay in an isolated environment. For instance, when asked what it means to be friends with someone, the respondent said that:

Everything I think really, like erm it’s just, it’s just, I’d rather sit with some one cause I hate to be on my own when there’s people, I like to be round people and interacting with people all the time so it does mean quite a lot to me, plus you, I think you need friends, it’s sort of like a necessity in life that your need.

Thus, it emerges that humans naturally socializing creatures who socialize by making friends. This implies that friendship is a natural and intrinsic aspect of human life that might be difficult to avoid.

It also clearly emerged from the interviews that friends are necessary for support and companionship as humans naturally develop sense of socialization and just feel fulfilled when they rely on someone. For instance, when the interviewee asked the respondent why they needed friends, the answer was:

Like support, someone to rely on and trust and just someone to have a good time with and spend your life with really isn’t it, like I’d rather spend my life with someone than on my own, so it’s quite important to me.

From this analysis, it is clear that whereas humans may not have defined reasons for making friends, their natural socializing habit makes it difficult stay in isolation without anyone to get support from or rely on. This assumption was further confirmed when the respondent said that:

…but nothing serious has really happened, yet anyway touch wood [INT: touch wood] where I need, really need them, but I just need them for everyday things like they just mean quite a lot to me my friends do, like my family really, like an extended family so, to me I find it quite sad when I see people who are quite lonely and stuff, cause for me that would be the worst situation to be in, like I don’t know about yourself but it’s very …

How to Make and Maintain Friends

After defining why people need friends, the interviews also provided a bit of information on the different ways of making friendships. For instance, when asked about her ld friend and how their friendship has changed since high school, the responded explained how school and work has been an important platform for making friends and how transitioning from one to the other has played a key role in defining the friendship. For instance,

ITN: But is she making new friends through work and all that sort of stuff?

LOU: …Er yeah but she works with older people really where she works, so she does stay with us, but she’s got a boyfriend as well so that sort of helps, so when we’re not there she’s spending time with him, so she’s settled down a lot more now, she just, but I think she felt a bit left out cos we were all moving on with our lives and she felt like she was stuck there, but she’s come to terms with it now and realized...

So, the interviews reveal that college and high school are some of the areas where people find an opportunity to make friends; even though one may lose contact with such friends after transitioning from one level of education to the other.

After making friends, people tend to maintain friendship in different ways because they not only want to make have friendships but also to continue getting the support from friendship by maintaining them. With this regard, one way in which the respondent maintained friendship was through communication and being constantly in touch with the friends. For instance, the respondent noted that one of her earlier friends had fizzled and when asked what could have caused the fizzling, the respondent noted that they were not able to see each other:

INT: What sort of, what leads to that fizzling?

LOU: I think it’s more a case of people doing different things, and then you don’t see each other often so you run out of like a bit of conversation really and then you just never see them, cause I’m here, hardly, the people when I go home, the main friends who I spend my time with, cause I’ve not got a lot of time, apart from the weekend or something, it’s really …

The study also revealed several ways of keeping in touch with friends and maintaining friendship. For instance, it was clear from the interviews that meeting up and having a drink with friends provides an opportunity to interact and maintain the personal touch between friends, and provides a more informal environment for socializing. For example:

I met up with her over Easter for a drink and it was really good, it was, but I hadn’t seen her since school from then…

Failure to develop an interactive platform where friends spend time together to understand each other breaks the relationship and makes one party feel like other party is not making any effort or not interested in maintaining the relationship. For instance:

INT: They’re not interested in …?

LOU: Like what you’ve been doing, they’re just like ‘Hi’ and then walk away, they’re not, they don’t stop for conversation and stuff, but then in the same respect I could stop them and, it’s quite strange isn’t it, yeah it’s really quite strange.

Apart from that, the study also revealed that people find it easier to make and maintain friendship with people they spend with time in activities of daily life such as college. For instance, the respondent noted that they do:

…make as much effort as I should have done with course mates which is one of the things I’m gunna try and do next year, but there’s two girls who I see quite a lot like we don’t just go, like we went out for each other’s birthday and stuff like that [INT: oh right, ok], we phone each other up and our exams and, but that’s only like two of them, there’s another girl who lives in my halls who does it, I saw her last night actually, so there is a few people that I speak to, but I never like text them and say ‘Are you coming out tonight?

It seems easier to interact and maintain friendship with people we interact with daily because they are easier to share with ideas and thoughts. The interview revealed that people tend to be more confident with each other when they spend most time together and this helps maintain the friendship between them. For instance:

…Like I’m more, more confident with the people I live with, you know to be yourself like sometimes you hold back don’t you and things, I’m like that with the people on my course, like I have to get to know them before I let them get to know me, it’s quite strange, I don’t know why…

References

ATKINSON, P. AND COFFEY, A. (2002) ‘Revisiting the Relationship Between ParticipantObservation and Interviewing’, in J.F. Gubrium and J.A. Holstein (ed.) Handbook of Interview Research, pp. 801–14. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

APAN, S. D., QUARTAROLI, M. T., & RIEMER, F. J. (2012). Qualitative research: an introduction to methods and designs. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass.

BLOOR, M & WOOD, F. (2006) Keywords in Qualitative Methods: A Vocabulary of ResearchConcepts. London: Sage.

GIVEN, L. M. (2008). The Sage encyclopedia of qualitative research methods. Los Angeles, Calif, Sage Publications.

GISSELLE GALLEGO and LOTTE STIG NØRGAARD (2018) ‘Qualitative Methods in Pharmacy Research’, Pharmacy, Vol 6, Iss 3, p 79 (2018), (3), p. 79.

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