advantages and disadvantages


	advantages and disadvantages of unstructured interviews
	Advantages The trained interviewer can rephrase questions and clear up any misunderstandings Rather than sticking to pre-set questions, interviewers can prove and ask follow-up questions. This allows them to explore complex issues Interviewees can develop their answers and explain their views in detail Unstructured interviews give an in-depth and rich account of the topic being studied They provide a more valid or authentic picture of the topic	Disadvantages Compared with other methods, unstructured interviews are often time consuming and expensive for the amount of data that is collected. The interviewer must have the skills needed to keep the conversation going and encourage interviewees to 'open up' The interview effect: If the interview bias occurs the results will not be valid. The interviewer effect: if interviewer bias occurs the results will be invalid. Unstructured interviews are not standardizing so they are difficult to replicate in order to check whether the findings are reliable. Compared with social surveys, fewer unstructured interviews can be carried out so the sample size is smaller. This makes it difficult to generalize from the sample to the wider population.
	Evaluation

The trained interviewer can rephrase questions and clear up any misunderstandings
Rather than sticking to pre-set questions, interviewers can prove and ask follow-up questions. This allows them to explore complex issues
Interviewees can develop their answers and explain their views in detail
Unstructured interviews give an in-depth and rich account of the topic being studied
They provide a more valid or authentic picture of the topic

Compared with other methods, unstructured interviews are often time consuming and expensive for the amount of data that is collected.
The interviewer must have the skills needed to keep the conversation going and encourage interviewees to 'open up'
The interview effect: If the interview bias occurs the results will not be valid.
The interviewer effect: if interviewer bias occurs the results will be invalid.
Unstructured interviews are not standardizing so they are difficult to replicate in order to check whether the findings are reliable.
Compared with social surveys, fewer unstructured interviews can be carried out so the sample size is smaller. This makes it difficult to generalize from the sample to the wider population.

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