Posted by TILEd
12 October 2025This research uses two data collection ‘methods’: Semi-structured interviews and vignettes.
Semi-structured interviews (SSI) in this research refers to interviews that are guided by a minimal set of pre-designed ‘key’ questions. However, each interview progresses differently, depending on participant answers. SSI contrasts with ‘structured’ and ‘unstructured’ interviews, which could be said to be located at different ends of a same spectrum. Structured, as the name implies, being an interview that follows a fixed set of questions. Data collected through this type of interview is designed to be more comparable. It also means interviews can be conducted by teams of researchers instead of just one person. In structured interviews, the researcher remains in control of the exchange. Unstructured interviews are at the other end of the spectrum. They often begin with one ‘guiding’ question. The rest of the interview flows like a conversation around a specific topic. In unstructured interviews, the participant controls the direction of the interview. A common feature of interviews across the spectrum is that the type of information captured is very rich, compared to multiple choice-type surveys.
Vignette activity = an interview based on presenting participants with a series of hypothetical scenarios, or citations. These act as prompts for participants to answer a set of pre-drafted questions.
More about interviews for this project and vignette activities.