Unstructured Interviews Here the interview is a conversation with no prepared questions or predetermined line of investigation. However, the interviewer should explain:
the purpose of the study is and
the particular focus of this interview
The roles and the purposes give structure. The interviewer generally uses a questionning strategy to explore the work the job holder performs. Listening and taking notes are very important. These enable follow up questions to be posed. The questions and responses - with summaries enable the interview to be controlled. The conversation takes on a structure with areas being considered, explored, related to each other and revisited to secure the depth of information required in job analysis.
An unstructured interview involves question and response and may be free flowing but it becomes structured in the sense that the interviewer has a purpose and needs skill to
establish a relationship
ask well-structured questions to generate a conversational flow in which the interviewee offers information - factual, opinion, subjective and objective about aspects of the job
to ensure information recieved is heard and understood - listening, clarifying and reflective summarising
Effective listening requires concentration and this can be disturbed by interruptions, the interviewer's own thought processes and dificulty in remaining neutral about what is being said. Notes need to be taken without loss of good eye contact. Cues need to be picked up so that further questions can be asked to probe issues and areas of interest
