Semi Structured Interviews

 
 

Semi-structured interviews definition

A semi-structured interview is a data collection method that involves asking participants a set of open-ended questions and following them up with probe questions to explore further their response and the topic of interest. Semi-structured interviews in qualitative research are a blend of structured and unstructured interviews in that some questions are predetermined while others are not. 

Semi-structured interviews allow you to be focused on the topic of interest while still giving you the autonomy to explore relevant ideas that may come up during the interview. Qualitative researchers use semi-structured interviews to collect new data and explore participants’ thoughts and beliefs about a particular topic.

 
 

What are the characteristics of Semi-structured interviews?

Below are some of the characteristics of semi-structured interviews to help you understand how they differ from other data collection methods. 

  1. Semi-structured interviews in qualitative research are used to collect qualitative, open-ended data.

  2. The researcher and participants engage in a formal interview.

  3. The researcher develops and utilizes an interview guide, a list of open-ended questions, and topics that the researcher will cover in the interview.

  4. The open-ended questions allow the researcher and participants to discuss the topics of interest in more detail.

  5. The researcher follows the interview guide but has the autonomy to stray from it and discuss other topics whenever they feel appropriate. 

  6. It involves a deep exploration of the participants’ experiences, beliefs, and thoughts

What is the difference between a semi-structured and unstructured interview?

Semi-structured interviews involve the use of a set of predetermined questions followed by some probing questions to get data from the respondents. On the flip side, researchers conducting unstructured interviews do not need to prepare questions before the interview as they rely only on spontaneity to direct the conversation. While the predetermined questions in semi-structured interviews can help the researcher to stay focused on the topic of interest, its absence makes it easy to deviate from the subject.

How to prepare for and conduct a semi-structured interview

Here is a step-by-step guide on how to conduct semi-structured interviews in qualitative research:

1. Determine objective and scope of study

This involves answering questions like what you hope to learn from the semi-structured interview and why you think it is the most appropriate research method.


2. Design the interview questions

Ensure your questions are open-ended, simple, and concise, and be mindful of your word choice, especially if your topic is sensitive. 


3. Identify the target group(s) for the semi-structured interview.

Identify the target group(s) for the semi-structured interview. If your target group is large, you can select a few respondents using random or stratified sampling techniques. However, if the target group is small, you can interview all the respondents. 


4. Determine how, when, and where you intend to conduct the interview.

Determine how, when, and where you intend to conduct the interview. Once done, get the participants' consent and notify them ahead of the interview date.


5. Conduct your interviews

You should start with a chat to establish trust and rapport with the respondents. When conducting a face-to-face interview, you should listen attentively to the respondents and pay attention to non-verbal cues like gestures, changes in voice, body language, and more. In addition, you should try your best to be non-judgemental, emphatic, and friendly throughout the interview.


6. Transcribe the audio or videos from the semi-structured interviews.

Transcribe the audio or videos from the semi-structured interviews. Don’t know how to transcribe interviews? Click here to learn all you need to know about transcribing interviews.


7. Code the data

The next thing is coding the data collected from the semi-structured interviews. Coding involves examining your data to identify patterns and themes and categorizing them accordingly. You can get this done quickly by using coding interview software. Get all the information you need about coding semi-structured interviews here.

8. Analyze the data

Once you are satisfied with the coding process, the next step is to analyze your data. Here, you can use Delve qualitative data analysis tool to analyze your data faster and get deeper insights.

9. Present your results as a research paper or report.

Turn your analysis into a narrative and tell the story of your data in a research paper or report.

Qualitative analysis doesn't have to be overwhelming

Take Delve's free online course to learn how to find themes and patterns in your qualitative data. Get started here.

Semi-structured interview examples

Below are semi-structured interview examples to help you understand how to create open-ended interview questions. These questions are extracted from Lung and Liu’s paper on how the perspectives of nursing assistants and frail elderly residents on their daily interaction in nursing homes affect their interaction: a qualitative study. 

  1. How do you perceive the daily interactions between you and nurse assistants/residents in the nursing home?

  2. In what situations do you usually interact with each other?

  3. How do you describe the relationship between you and the residents/nurse assistants?

  4. How do you perceive the interaction that you have just shared?

The first question is the opening question, while others are part of the probing questions.

Advantages of semi-structured interviews

Some of the advantages of a semi-structured interview include:

  1. It combines the elements of structured and unstructured interviews, so it taps into the strengths of both research methods. Semi-structured interviews produce reliable, comparable data and offer you the flexibility to ask follow-up questions.

  2. The predetermined questions help you focus on the topic of interest and avoid distractions.

  3. Semi-structured interviews give you rich, detailed data due to their open-ended nature and flexibility to ask probing questions.

Disadvantages of semi-structured interviews

The drawbacks of semi-structured interviews include:

  1. First, it is time-consuming and labor-intensive. 

  2. There is a high risk of subjectivity in semi-structured interviews. The open-ended nature of this research method could tempt the researcher to ask leading questions, resulting in biased responses.

  3. The flexibility of this research method can lessen its validity. The more you deviate from the topic of interest, the harder it becomes to compare the responses from the participants.

Use Delve to help you code and analyze semi structured interviews.

Looking for information on how to code or analyze the data you collected through semi-structured interviews? Make data coding and analysis easier and get deep insights into your data using Delve qualitative data analysis tool. Start a free trial of Delve today!

References:

Cite This Blog Article

Delve, Ho, L., & Limpaecher, A. (2022, April 6). Semi Structured Interviews https://delvetool.com/blog/semi-structured

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