DEVELOPMENTAL CRISIS IN EARLY ADULTHOOD: A ...

accurately restructure the events, and a written report gives respondents time to
portray what occurred without the chance of error or confabulation that a more
spontaneous form of data collection can have. However, the shortcomings of a
written report are that they take a long time for participants to produce, maybe many
hours, and this will strongly reduce motivation to participate, and so jeopardise
getting sufficient sample. A further disadvantage is that a written report is
monological rather than dialogical - it gives no chance for the researcher to investigate
or probe into interesting areas with a series of his/her own questions, and therefore
may lack depth and dynamism.
The chosen data type for Study 1 was the semi-structured interview. In such
interviews, key questions are listed on an “interview schedule” that the interviewer
uses to maintain focus and direction but can digress from in order to uncover
emergent areas. Probing into initial responses with additional follow-up questions in
order to establish hidden or implicit layers of meaning is essential. The less structured
nature of the interview permits a more engaged and sensitive form of researcherparticipant
interaction than structured interviews, which in turn allows a more open
and empathic relationship to be formed between researcher and participant (Smith and
Osborn, 2003). Over the course of semi-structured interviews, individuals reveal
information about themselves that questionnaires or even written reports are unlikely
to surface.
5.7 Practicalities of Data Collection
Participants were given a choice for the location of the interview, including the
option of an interview room at Birkbeck College. The university room option was
taken by half the participants, and the other half specified alternative locations such as
their home or a quiet café. A minidisk recorder or tape recorder was used to record
the interviews. Prior to conducting the interview, individuals signed a consent form
that reminded them of anonymity, confidentiality and audio recording (Appendix C).
They were reminded that they could withdraw at any point and that they did not have
to answer any question they did not wish to. After concluding an interview, the
recorded tape was kept in a locked drawer to maintain data protection, and a full
written transcript was made from each tape by the interviewer.
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