Using the pre-release material and your wider sociological knowledge, explain and evaluate the use of semi-structured interviews to research the importance of work in shaping peoples identity.

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Using the pre-release material and your wider sociological knowledge, explain and evaluate the use of semi-structured interviews to research the importance of work in shaping people’s identity.

A semi-structured interview is a form of discussion which is used to collect qualitative data by setting up a situation (the interview) that allows a respondent the time and scope to talk about their opinions on a particular subject. It is not structured however the researcher does have a list of key themes, issues, and questions to be covered. In this type of interview the order of the questions can be changed depending on the direction of the interview. Nayak’s research in the Pre-release material ‘Displaced Masculinities’ explores how Working-class young men have had to rethink what it is to be a ‘man’ beyond the world of industrial paid employment and how it re-shapes it into a whole ‘way of life’ with the decline of traditional work and leisure lifestyles.

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First of all, when researching the importance of work in shaping people’s identity the researcher attempts to build a rapport, with the interviewee which allows them to create some sort of relationship bonding which enables them to trust one another. The interview therefore becomes like a flowing conversation, in Nayaks study: he wasn’t able to communicate/have access to the Charver Kids as ‘their school attendance was so poor’, Nayak was the able to use ‘his position as a resident in a rundown estate, near to one of the schools, which was associated with high unemployment and those labelled Charver kids’. ...

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