Advantages Of Semi-Structured Interview

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In order to enrich research results and provide more insights on specific formative assessment principles, a semi-structured interview was used in this research. The semi-structured interview enabled the researcher to obtain in-depth statements of preferences, opinions and experience about formative assessment. Drever (1997) described the term semi-structured interview as “a general structure by deciding in advance what ground is to be covered and what main questions are to be asked. This leaves the detailed structure to be worked out during the interview.” (p. 1). Using semi-structured interviews can lead the researchers directly to the particular values and beliefs that teachers attach to particular techniques of formative assessment. In this study, the semi-structured interview will help to find out: teachers’ beliefs of formative assessment as well as the tools of formative assessment used by teachers in the classroom. The reason for using semi-structured interview is that it is more flexible than standardized methods such as the structured interview or survey. In other words, a highly structured interview may be too restrictive to obtain in-depth information. Conversely, a completely unstructured interview could have lacked direction and focus, leading to a lack of depth of issues covered. Robson (1997) illustrates the advantage of semi-structured interviews as having “… the potential of providing rich and highly illuminating material” (p.299). In order for the