What interview type has a list of questions worked out in advance but allows follow-up questions and yields rich data?

What interview type has a list of questions worked out in advance but allows follow-up questions and yields rich data?

• A. Semi-structured interview
• B. Structured interview
• C. Unstructured interview
• D. Clinical method

Answer: (A)

A semi-structured interview uses a guide with questions worked out in advance, ensuring you cover key topics and keep some consistency across interviews, while still allowing you to follow the conversation with probing questions based on what the participant says. This combination is powerful because it gives you rich, nuanced data you can compare across participants, thanks to the prepared questions, but you don’t lose depth because you can explore interesting points more fully through follow-ups. If the interview were strictly structured with no room for probing, you’d get more uniform data but less opportunity to dig into unique experiences. If it were unstructured with no preplanned questions, you’d likely gather rich narratives but with less consistency and comparability. The term clinical method isn’t a standard label for a type of interview in this context, so it doesn’t fit as the primary approach.

A semi-structured interview uses a guide with questions worked out in advance, ensuring you cover key topics and keep some consistency across interviews, while still allowing you to follow the conversation with probing questions based on what the participant says. This combination is powerful because it gives you rich, nuanced data you can compare across participants, thanks to the prepared questions, but you don’t lose depth because you can explore interesting points more fully through follow-ups.

If the interview were strictly structured with no room for probing, you’d get more uniform data but less opportunity to dig into unique experiences. If it were unstructured with no preplanned questions, you’d likely gather rich narratives but with less consistency and comparability. The term clinical method isn’t a standard label for a type of interview in this context, so it doesn’t fit as the primary approach.