Structured Interviewing

Once sampling issues have been taken into consideration, the next stage of the survey research process (see Figure 7.1) involves considering whether to administer the questionnaire face to face or to rely on self-completion. This chapter deals with the fi rst option, the structured interview, while the following chapter addresses issues relating to self-completion. A further option to consider is whether to administer the questionnaire by email or by using the Web; this possibility will be covered later on

. The structured interview is one of a variety of forms of research interview, but it is the one that is most commonly employed in survey research. The goal of the structured interview is for the interviewing of respondents to be standardized so that differences between interviews in any research project are minimized. As a result, there are many guidelines about how structured interviewing should be carried out so that variation in the conduct of interviews is small. This chapter explores: • the reasons why the structured interview is a prominent research method in survey research; this issue entails a consideration of the importance of standardization to the process of measurement; • the different contexts of interviewing, such as the use of more than one interviewer and whether the administration of the interview is in person or by telephone; • various prerequisites of structured interviewing, including: establishing rapport with the interviewee; asking questions as they appear on the interview schedule; recording exactly what is said by interviewees; ensuring there are clear instructions on the interview schedule concerning question sequencing and the recording of answers; and keeping to the question order as it appears on the schedule; • problems with structured interviewing, including: the infl uence of the interviewer on respondents and the possibility of systematic bias in answers (known as response sets). The feminist critique of the structured interview, which raises a distinctive cluster of problems with the method, is also examined.