An unstructured interview is an interview in which questions are not prearranged (although some questions may be prepared in advance), allowing for spontaneity and for questions to develop during the course of the interview. This is considered to be the opposite of a structured interview which offers a set amount of standardized questions. It is a qualitative research method and accordingly prioritises validity and the depth of the interviewees’ answers, whilst losing reliability and making it more difficult to draw patterns between interviewees’ responses in comparison to structured interviews. Unstructured interviews are used in a variety of fields and circumstances, ranging from research in social sciences, such as anthropology, to college and job interviews.
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