ASSESS THE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSESS OF

USING STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS TO INVESTIGATE THE REAL RATE OF STREET CRIME.

Structured interviews are a type of research method. They consist of having an interview schedule which is a set of questions which must be asked by the interviewer in the same order to every participant for reliability. Within in structured interviews is also the idea that the interviewer maintians the same posture and tone in voice for every paritcipant, to reduce any hawthorne effect or atleast, provide the same effect for every pariticipant so that one is not more inclined to answer a question in a different way to another. Furthermore from a theoretical perspective structured interviews are favoured by positivists for their more scientifical approach as opposed to unstructured interviews, through this we can create social facts and not an individuals interpretation of the topic at hand. However, is this always beneficial? In most cases it may be difficult to conduct structured interviews to begin with depending on the participant. Whilst institution-related individuals may be easy to locate, approach, and confront. Other groups, more considerably victims and criminals, or even perpretayers may be more harder to locate in the first instance, and in the second even harder to approach. Victims may feel to insecure, frightened especially if enough time has not passed from the crime against them. Perpretayers may not want anything they have said held against them in legal context that they will regret, and lastly criminals may feel suspicious about interviewers. As they mainly may adopt the idea that the interviewer is not working for the same interests as the criminal. Placed in the position that we do manage to successfully locate, organise and confront a participant regarding criminal topics. We are then faced with more issues, for example safety. Davies was unaware of the potential risk of being taken hostage when conducting interviews on criminals. Despite inprisonment some people do not change, on the other hand they may become more criminalistic and aggressive. This problem can however be overcome for example by conducting the interview whilst social control agencies patrol. For example Hoyle was accompanied by several off-duty police officers while conducting her study. However, whether or not police officers are always accessible in this manner is questionable, if so. It may be costly. Once conducting the structured interview, interviewers need to make sure they take note of the answers given by participants, with minimal hawthorne effect as possible. They may choose to do this in a cover manner, for example recording what the participant says through a secret tape-recorder. But this may have some ethical issues, such as not first gaining the ocnsent of the participants. It should be in the best interests of sociologist to consider moral values, such as the confidentiality of some individuals, concerning their privacy. This presents us with another problem of openly recording the participant. Which can give way to an extreme result of hawthorne effect, we may notice participants giving answers in a way that serves only as a means of interesting the interviewer, presenting him answers the participant believes he/she will like to hear. Studying crime through the use of structured interviews is possible, but may be difficult depending on the nature of criminals and victims, and their reactions to what they see as government related institutions.