Difference Between Structured, and Un-Structured Interviews: Their Pros and Cons

Have you decided to go for qualitative research? Then here is the solution to your problem. The most effective way to collect data for qualitative research is by interview. It helps you in understanding things in a better way. You can have different opinions and experience a lot of things. In interviews, you mostly ask open-ended questions. And the open ended questions always come up with in-depth information. In this case, people can share their beliefs, and opinions openly. There won’t be any restrictions for them. Here you have to deal with large data. The reason for a large data record is the availability of unlimited opinions. No doubt it requires more effort in data recording. But it is free from biases too.

In the case of other data collection types, you come up with close-ended questions. It is easy to handle, and record data in this aspect. But you cannot get the benefits of suggestions, and ideas.

Let’s suppose you have finalised the research methodology and data collection as an interview. Now it’s time to get its details. There isn’t only one type of interview. It has multiple categories. You have to see which type of interview is suitable for your research. It means which type can exactly address your problem. This aspect matters a lot.

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The two main types of interviews are structured, and unstructured interviews. These are discussed as follows;

1. Structured Interviews

The director of the assignment writing service said that for a structured interview, you have to plan the questions first. You ask those questions in the interview. In this aspect, you set a standard for the interview. You keep asking the same questions from your audience. Through this way, you can exactly interrogate the particular variable required for research. Structured interviews are for when you want values in numerical, or defined quantities. You collect data related to relevant events and behaviours. Then you record them. So it is very clear that structured interviews are used in quantitative monitoring.

In structured interviews, the main focus is on a standard process of investigation. You have to use structured interviews when you need a quantitative method. Another important point is that you can easily reproduce them. Repetition is easy to handle in this aspect.

At the same time, the sequence is also a basic demand of structured interviews (Phellas et al., 2011). While conducting a structured interview, you have to ensure these points. Otherwise, you will fail to achieve your objective. No doubt research work is not an easy task. Each step matters a lot in it. Any minor mistake or faulty decision can cause failure in your objective. If you are unsure about anything, don’t take the risk. You have to gather information first.

Make sure if the information is relevant or not. Also, if it is relevant, how should you go for it? And what kind of investment is required? These things play an important role in the aspect of research. You cannot take any decision simply based on your choice. Everything is linked together.

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The structured interview has its own pros and cons. Let’s discuss these in detail;

• Pros of a Structured Interview

In structured interviews, the first advantage is that you do not get betrayed by your objective. A specific set of questions keep you focused on your objective. You do not face distraction in this part. After that, you have to deal with data while conducting the analysis. So again, you don’t have to invest too much effort when you go for a structured interview. Here you can analyse the data easily. The reason behind the easy analysis is that you can collect very brief, and exact responses from the audience. You can also ensure the accuracy of data because of the large sample size. Large sample sizes increase the chances of accuracy for a research’s results.

• Cons of a Structured Interview

In the structured interview, you are restricted to a particular set of questions. Due to this, you cannot get in-depth information. It is taken as less valid when we compare it with the unstructured interview. You cannot move from a particular line in this type.

2. Unstructured Interviews

The Unstructured interviews don’t have any specifications of the question. The management of a PhD dissertation writing service firm said that in this, you are allowed to ask different questions from the respondent. These questions must be aligned with the objective/s of the research. But here, the aim is to go for systematic investigation. In short, flexibility is what makes this type popular. You can change your question as per the respondent. Suppose you have to find the expertise of the respondents. Then you can ask the most relevant questions. This way, you can get the best out of them.

An unstructured interview is preferable for qualitative observation. Here you have to add the open-ended questions that can help you in getting in-depth information. At the same time, structured interviews go for close-ended questions as well. You can ask the question without any sequence (Chauhan, 2019).

• Pros of an Unstructured Interview

An unstructured interview helps you in dealing with complex issues. Here you can debate and go for the conversational approach. You can reveal the best information with the help of an unstructured interview. It is more comfortable as compared to a structured interview. The best thing about an unstructured interview is that you can make changes at any point in time. These changes can be related to your research’s hypothesis. Similarly, you can change questions as per the demand. There is no restriction in this like the ones you have to face in for a structured interview.

• Cons of an Unstructured Interview

For an unstructured interview, you have to put more effort into time and hard work. As you go for a detailed conversation, you spend more time on each individual. The data is not in a sequence either. You have to deal with unaligned data too. You have to arrange more resources in case of an unstructured interview. When data collection is completed, you have to put effort into its analysis. You must manage this all over again. You won’t get relevant answers every time. So you have to sort out all the data. An unstructured interview is one that is subjective. And you have to use more than one parameter for it. Without using different parameters, you cannot test the objectives of the research.

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Conclusion

Writing skills are important for sharing research results. Many good pieces of research fail to attract people. Researchers have to show interest in writing a good research paper. Simply conducting good research is not enough. Researchers must to schedule their work to organise it better. Preparing the draft is also helpful in writing. It saves them time and structures the paper in an effective manner. The researcher has to remain neutral during research writing. Good research papers must cover all aspects of the issue. It should not only support a specific side. The paper has to go through a flow. It means that the paper should not lose coherence. Researchers should include graphs within their papers. In the end, these are some important insights that should be followed for better results. Researchers can use them to improve their research writing skills. This is in relation to quantitative research.