Strengths And Limitations Of Group Interview Essay

There are multiple different research methods that can be used in different situations so as to allow sociologists to learn more about previously unknown areas of society. An example of a research method would be a group interview, a method that gathers qualitative data, and is favoured by left-wing sociologists due to the interpretative nature of the results. A group interview is conducted via a group of subjects meeting with a researcher at the same time, and the group discuss either a series of questions or a topic; the sociologists then draw their own conclusions from the results. An example of a group interview would be the Sue Sharp study of 1972 and 1994, during which Sharp interviewed a group of young girls about their hopes for the future, from which she drew the conclusion that the aspirations of girls changed as society itself changed. This essay will assess the strengths and limitations of using group interviews in order to research social class differences in university entrances.

A benefit of conducting a group interview is that it allows a researcher to survey a large group of people in a short space of time. This practical consideration is an important one that would influence whether or not a researcher would choose to use the method, as it not only involves the time spent on the …show more content…
However, there are also some benefits that can be attributed to the use of group interviews; these include the idea that the research method is ethically good, the time-effective way that the method surveys a large amount of people quickly, and the fact that there are opportunities for new ideas to be