ABSTRACT
Semi-structured interview guides allow researchers to ask open-ended questions and to interpret the 'why' question of a study in many research contexts, whereas structured interviews tend to answer 'how many' questions and are more suitable for data collection, surveys and statistics. This chapter discusses focuses on examining the use of semi-structured interviews as viewed through different empirical research projects that involved non-state security actors. The non-state security actors include non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society organizations (CSOs) and experts from business, law and academia or human and civil rights activists or separatist-group sympathizers who have responded in their private capacity but have been part of a regime transformation or of decision-making processes concerning a political event. The chapter discusses some methodological challenges one may face during semi-structured interviews with non-state interviewees. In a research project, semi-structured interviews are suitable for addressing 'why' questions and generating qualitative data that allow for further interpretation.
