Saif Khan

10/25/2016

Newton, Nigel. "The Use of Semi-structured Interviews in Qualitative

Research: Strengths and Weaknesses." Academia.edu. N.p., 2007. Web.
20 Oct. 2016.

This source is written by Nigel Newton, a researcher on the effects of

organizational culture on individuals learning approach and a
consultant who has over 15 years of teaching experience

I found this source on Google Scholar.

The intended audience of this source are the people who conduct
interviews to hire individuals for a corporation.

The semi-structured interview creates a structure that the interview

will be based off of by predetermining the main questions that will be
asked and ground that will be covered. This form of interview is
advantageous towards corporations because it will rid the interviewees
of the interview effect. The interview effect is the way in which
people respond to questions by the way they perceive their
interviewer. By ridding the applicant of the way they will respond to
questions based on the person they are talking to, it helps standardize
the interview. Whereas, an unstructured interview makes it almost
impossible to learn anything real about an applicant because of the

open ended questions and room for discrimination based on the race
or gender of an interviewer.

Quotes:
o

Threats to the validity of this kind of interview include the use of

leading questions or the researchers preconceived ideas
influencing what is and is not worth discussing.

In particular, the sex, the age, and the ethnic origins of the
interviewer have a bearing on the amount of information people
are willing to divulge and their honesty about what they reveal.

Gomm (2004) describes the cooperative nature of the interview

as a fact-producing interaction from a different perspective it
could be argued facts are always socially produced and the
influence of a responsibly engaged researcher helps interviewees
describe perceptions they would otherwise think irrelevant or in
their normal social context feel inhibited from mentioning. In
relation to more personal interview encounters he states (p.230):
The argument is that only by developing intimate, trusting and
empathetic relationships will respondents feel able to disclose
the truth.