Applying Interviews to Education

Interviews are a widely used research method in the sociology of education. They involve a researcher asking questions directly to a participant, either face-to-face or via other channels. Interviews can range from highly structured formats with pre-set questions to completely unstructured, open-ended conversations. In educational settings, interviews can be conducted with pupils, teachers, parents, governors, and other stakeholders. This lesson examines the practical, ethical, and theoretical issues of using different types of interviews to research education.

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Types of Interviews

Type	Description	Data Produced
Structured interviews	Pre-set questions asked in a fixed order; interviewer reads from a schedule	Quantitative (mainly)
Semi-structured interviews	A set of prepared questions but flexibility to follow up and probe	Mix of quantitative and qualitative
Unstructured interviews	No pre-set questions; more like a guided conversation	Qualitative
Group interviews	Several participants interviewed together; can be structured or unstructured	Qualitative (mainly)
Focus groups	A form of group interview where participants discuss a topic and interact with each other	Qualitative

Key Definition: Unstructured interview — an interview conducted without a fixed set of questions, allowing the conversation to develop naturally. The interviewer has a general topic or theme but is free to follow up on interesting responses. Also called an 'informal' or 'in-depth' interview.

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Practical Issues with Interviews in Education

Access and Gatekeepers

• Schools must grant permission for interviews to take place on school premises and during school time.
• Head teachers may be reluctant to allow interviews that take pupils out of lessons, especially if the research is not seen as directly beneficial to the school.
• Teachers may need to rearrange their schedules to participate, creating logistical difficulties.

Time and Cost

• Interviews are time-consuming compared to questionnaires — each interview takes time to conduct, record, and transcribe.
• Unstructured interviews are particularly time-intensive, as each one may last 30 minutes to an hour or more.
• In a school context, fitting interviews into lesson times or break periods severely limits their length.
• If the researcher needs to interview pupils across several schools, travel time and costs accumulate.

Finding a Suitable Location

• Schools are often noisy and busy environments, making it difficult to find a quiet, private space for an interview.
• Interviewing a pupil in a staffroom or office may intimidate them; interviewing them in a corridor lacks privacy.
• Safeguarding considerations may require that a responsible adult (e.g. a teaching assistant) is present during interviews with children, which could inhibit honest responses.

Characteristics of Participants

• Young children may have short attention spans, limited vocabulary, and difficulty understanding or responding to complex questions.
• Teenagers may be reluctant to open up to adult researchers, particularly on sensitive topics.
• Teachers may give guarded or rehearsed responses, conscious of how they might be quoted.

Example: Louise Archer and Becky Francis (2007) used semi-structured interviews with Chinese British pupils and their parents to explore achievement and identity. The interviews allowed participants to describe their experiences in their own words, but the researchers had to work carefully to build trust and rapport, especially with younger participants.

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Practical Differences Between Interview Types in Education

Practical Issue	Structured Interview	Unstructured Interview	Group Interview
Time required	Relatively quick (15-20 minutes)	Lengthy (30-60+ minutes)	Moderate (can gather data from several pupils simultaneously)
Training needed	Minimal — interviewer follows a schedule	Considerable — interviewer must develop rapport and follow up skilfully	Moderate — interviewer must manage group dynamics
Timetable disruption	Less — fits within a lesson period	More — difficult to fit into school day	Moderate — but removing several pupils from class is disruptive
Recording	Easy — responses fit pre-set categories	Complex — audio recording and transcription needed	Complex — multiple speakers; need to identify who says what

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Ethical Issues with Interviews in Education

Informed Consent

• Gaining genuinely informed consent from children is challenging. Pupils may agree to be interviewed without fully understanding what it involves or how their responses will be used.
• Parental consent is usually required for interviews with minors, adding a layer of logistical complexity.
• Pupils may feel pressured to agree if the interview is arranged by their teacher.

Power Dynamics

• The power imbalance between an adult researcher and a child participant is particularly acute in interview settings.
• Pupils may say what they think the interviewer wants to hear rather than expressing their genuine views.
• They may perceive the interview as similar to being questioned by a teacher and respond accordingly — either compliantly or defensively.
• In group interviews, peer pressure may lead some pupils to go along with dominant voices rather than expressing their own views.

Distress and Sensitive Topics

• Interviews can touch on deeply personal topics such as bullying, family breakdown, racism, or academic failure.
• Unlike questionnaires, interviews involve face-to-face interaction, which means the researcher can observe signs of distress but must also be skilled in managing emotional responses.
• Unstructured interviews are particularly unpredictable — the conversation may lead to topics that neither the researcher nor the participant anticipated.

Confidentiality

• Maintaining confidentiality is crucial but challenging. If a pupil discloses abuse, self-harm, or criminal activity during an interview, the researcher may have a legal or moral obligation to report it.
• This creates a tension between the researcher's promise of confidentiality and their duty of care to the child.