Literary

In order to conduct investigations today, researchers use a variety of techniques. These fall into two categories: qualitative and quantitative methodology. Qualitative methodology is the type we will focus most on in this essay. This uses smaller samples than in quantitative methods, seeing each individual as a unique being. This research is more interested in the depth of the data rather than breadth and requires the researcher to play an active role in the data collection. (Wimmer and Dominick 1997:84). It is often difficult to draw definitive conclusions from the findings or at least generalise them to larger groups because of the small scale of the method and the often quite unrepresentative samples that are often used. "Qualitative research is a useful mass media tool only when its limitations are recognised" (Wimmer and Dominick 1997:85). Qualitative research relates mainly to interviews done on a small scale. These are the focus for this essay, as much of the media research uses this (sometimes in combination with observational diaries or participant observation) to gain data. (Hammond, Breakwell and Fife-Schaw 1995:238). It is a technique used especially in the area of ethnographic research (Jensen and Jankowski 1991:33).
Firstly we should consider what an interview is. Frey and Oishi (1995:01) define it as "a purposeful conversation in which one person asks prepared questions (interviewer) and another answers them (respondent)" This is done to gain information on a particular topic or a particular area to be researched. Interviews are a useful tool which can lead to further research using other methodologies such as observation and experiments (Jensen and Jankowski 1991:101). Interviews can have one of two basic structures. They can be either structured (closed interview style) or unstructured (open interview style). Open-ended or unstructured interviews are defined by Nichols (1991:131) as "an informal interview , not structured by a standard list of... [continues]

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