What is a Structured Interview?

Structured interviews are not often used in qualitative research and are most often used when wanting to easily compare participants. Structured interviews involve asking each participant a specific set of questions in a distinct format to collect useful information on a topic. In structured interview processes, the questions and analyses are standardized, making it easier to pinpoint important points and outliers. Structured interviews can be used in pilot studies to determine understanding of survey language or perceptions and interpretations of questions that will be used in a survey or focus group setting. Structured interviews can also be used when there is already a solid understanding of the topic, when there is limited time and resources, or data and results are needed quickly.[1]

What is a Semi-Structured Interview?

Semi structured interviews involve open-ended conversations that allow for unstructured exploration of topics. Semi-structured questions are pre-determined and researchers ask broad questions that allow for in-depth explanations and answers. Qualitative researchers are able to ask probing questions based on the dialogue that occurs to help delve deeper into the topics asked to give participants the opportunity to raise new subjects or issues. Often, semi-structured interviews are used when asking about complex or sensitive topics/issues. Semi-structured interviews are the most common type of interview in qualitative research, and are used often in medical health studies to ensure that participants are able to portray all of their thoughts and opinions openly and comfortably. Semi-structured interviews are often conducted on a one-on-one basis, although group semi-structured interviews do occur in some research studies. Semi-structured interviews can further be separated into more specific interview types, such as life history interviews, narrative interviews, or in-depth interviews.[2]

Which Interview Type to Choose

When conducting research in medical health settings it is important to choose the right type of interview method for data collection. Having the proper method of data collection makes all the difference in the data that will be collected and the insights that will be uncovered through the collection and analysis process. The most commonly selected type of interview in medical health research is semi-structured interviews. These interviews are convenient to use in long-term or longitudinal studies and allow participants to express themselves with minimal prohibition. These interviews are often pre-scheduled and are conducted a set number of times with each participant, generally ranging from 30 minutes to more than an hour.[3]

Conclusion

Semi-structured interviews utilize pre-determined questions to create open-ended dialogue with participants to gain insight into complex and sensitive topics. Structured interviews are used less often in qualitative research and interviews and analyses are standardized so that all participants are asked the same questions in the same order.

Take Away

This article examines the differences between structured and semi-structured interviewing when it comes to medical health studies. It is critical when conducting qualitative research in medical health settings to ensure that the proper method of interviewing is selected to gain the best insights into a topic or phenomenon.

[1] Roulston, K., & Choi, M. (2018). Qualitative interviews. The SAGE handbook of qualitative data collection, 233-249.

[2] Petrescu, S. H., Lazar, A., Cioban, C., & Doroftei, I. (2017). Semi-structured interview. Qualitative Research in Regional Geography: A Methodological Approach, 37-50.

[3] DiCicco‐Bloom, B., & Crabtree, B. F. (2006). The qualitative research interview. Medical education, 40(4), 314-321.