Advantages and Disadvantages of Semi-Structured Interviews. Introduction Researchers use a variety of techniques to conduct research. A structured interview is one where the interviewer sticks rigidly to a pre-written set of questions. In this sense, the interview should resemble a ‘flowing conversation’ (Rubin & Rubin, 2005; Choak, 2012). Numerous studies have found that structured interviews are superior in hiring, providing better results – however, as noted above, the advantages of structured interviews also come with drawbacks. Find out more about structured interviews. Semi-structured interviews are the best of both worlds but do offer some unique challenges. Over time, unsurprisingly, I’ve evolved my approach and whilst I didn’t start with them did adopt competency-based questions as the mainstay of my interviews. The advantages of semi-structured interviews include: They offer the measuring abilities of a structured interview. A structured interview is an assessment method designed to measure job-related competencies of candidates by systematically inquiring about their behavior in past experiences and/or their proposed behavior in hypothetical situations. They allow interviewers to compare candidates on the same set of questions. The interview About ‘competency-based’ and ‘structure’ I’ve recruited a lot of people – mostly but not exclusively UX/UI designers and researchers. A typical rating scale will ask the interviewer to rate candidates from 1-5 on their preparedness for the job for each question asked. different theoretical perspectives which are “postmodern, feminist, sociolinguistic” “conversation analytic”, “ethnomethodologi cal perspectives” and even data analysis. Reliability : .Easy for researcher to standardise and control: every interview done in same way = easy to replicate and compare answers to identify similarities and differences Interviews or self-completion questionnaires? Within education, structured interviews are normally the main form in which interviews take place. Structured interviews typically use a standard rating scale to make it easy to compare candidates. , Group interviews , Ethical disadvantages , Unstructured / informal interviews, Ethical Advantage ) For Interviews with Individuals see: Convergent Interviews Key Informant Interviews In-depth Interviews For Interviews with Groups see: Focus Group Discussions Types of interviews There are many different types of interview approaches and techniques, Generally speaking, all interviews fall into one of three categories: structured, semi-structured, and depth/unstructured interviews. INTERVIEWS (Structured / formal interviews, Practical Disadvantages, Theoretical Advantages , Theoretical Disadvantages , Semi structured interview. The popularity of semi-structured interviews within the social sciences partly reflects their independence from a single theoretical framework or epistemological position. Choosing between an interview and a self- completed questionnaire on which the respond-ent writes their answers is an important decision. For feminists, interviews have theoretical advantages since they provide space for critical reflection and interaction between interviewer and interviewee. What are the theoretical advantages/limitations with structured interviews? Keywords: Interview, semi-structured interview, unstructured interview, in-depth interview 1. It is effectively an individually-administered questionnaire and could have open or closed questions or a mixture of both.. 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