Answers obtained from interviews tend to be more valid than those from questionnaires, but interviews are usually more time-consuming to administer. Interviews can be structured, semi-structured, or unstructured, and they can be individual or group interviews. Structured interviews are just a series of questions and answers. Semi-structured interviews often have an initial question followed by probes. This is the type most widely favoured by researchers on education, as it gives students the opportunity to express themselves freely under the interviewer s control.
Individual respondents determine the shape of unstructured interviews.
The points to be considered are written on the board or on a piece of paper and discussed in groups or by the class as a whole. Students are asked to write a report on a general or specific question. The teacher may discuss with the whole class some of the points raised by the students. Students are asked to keep a record of their daily experience in the English class. Although diaries should be personal, some of the students may be willing to share parts of their diaries with the teacher and the rest of the class.