Semi-structured interview

The questions are loosely structured and give interviewees more opportunities to fully express themselves.

For interviewees, because the unstructured part of semi-structured interview gives them more space to ask for clarification on answers and to express free flow of thoughts, the interviewees normally feel less stress during the interview.

They would present more communication skills to the interviewers and build personal bond with them under the relatively warm and friendly atmosphere.

The drawback of the leading question is that it could subtly orient interviewers toward a certain way.

It is also helpful to take detailed notes or recording the whole interview to compare the answers afterward.

[9] Because semi-structured interviews allow people to communicate and express their free flow of thoughts at some degrees, the interviewers need to pay attention to their intercultural competence and cultural dimensions during the communication.

Intercultural competence requires people to recognize and respect the diversity of different cultural backgrounds.

People with high intercultural competence often tend to respect individual variations and different cultural patterns.

Lack of the recognition of cultural dimensions could lead to miscommunication and unpleasant results during semi-structured interviews.