Semi-structured, open-ended techniques

Abstract

The techniques presented in this chapter are all semi-structured. In other words, they involve you in asking questions whose content and sequence aren’t fully specified in advance. You’d use them in situations in which you have a clear idea of your purpose (you should always have that!), a general idea of the kinds of content which you wish to explore, and a rough notion of the sequence in which you’ll do so. You’ll allow both the content and the sequence to vary with different respondents, in order to be sensitive to the way in which your interaction with particular individuals is progressing. The techniques are also open-ended. That is, they use a form of questioning in which your respondents are encouraged to answer in their own words: while you might have some hunches about the kind of answers to expect, you wouldn’t be prepared to specify them in advance.