1. Usefulness of unstructured interviews

7. Interviews– Education Context 5. Improving validity (strategies)
1. Practical Issues
Structured interviews
Language issues – young people are not as wordy/literate as adults
Students reluctant to talk
Not understand abstract concepts/terms
Boredom – short attention span
Interpret NVC/body language differently to adults
Can effect results and interfere with validity of evidence..so unstructured interviews may be more useful.
Waffling – children can drift off the point (Powney/Watts) - too literal.
Training needs to be extensive to avoid this = increased costs
Schools are riddled with gossip/rumour – when other children learn about interviews – will affect others!
2. Reliability
Young people (in structured interviews) may not produce valid data in ‘formal context’.
Di Bentley – used funny image at the start of each interview to relax the atmosphere.. Was very mindful of her body language/tone
With unstructured interviews – not standardised – cant compare
3. Access & Response Rate
Problems accessing teachers/pupils in school hierarchy
Schools not permit interviews in lesson time as disrupt learning – students not want to give up own time also
Parental permission needed and this varies by topic (Field had 29% refusal rate on sexual health research)
Interviews– Education Context
4. Power and Status
In school – students have little power than teachers. If they see interviewer as ‘the man’ then they may lie/exaggerate etc – invalid
Bell ‘teacher in disguise’
Students may want to appear more conformist to avoid trouble
Stephen Ball used unstructured interviews in his Beachdale comprehensive study into setting and streaming
6. Group interviews
Pupils may be influenced by peers – less valid data
Students can ‘egg each other on’
But these can reduce power imbalance
They also reveal interactions (and give meaning) to group behaviour
5. Improving validity (strategies)
Greene and Hogan used: open ended questions/not interrupt answers/tolerate long pauses/avoid leading questions/avoid repeating questions
Unstructured interviews lessen barriers/gain rapport/open

8. Assess the usefulness of using group interviews for researching boys achievement of school
Use page 134 to help you complete a draft on this question. Follow the structure on your green sheet.
Item B Investigating educational underachievement among boys Boys are more likely than girls to underachieve in school. This may be due to factors inside school. Some sociologists may use group interviews to study the causes of boys’ underachievement.
These are often unstructured and allows the interviewer to observe interactions within the group at first hand. However, there are many practical problems with group interviews and schools may wish to have a say in how interviews are conducted and who researchers choose as their participants.