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The continuum of exploratory to confirmatory questions is useful because it informs the choice of methods for data collection and analysis. One approach is to strive for a fit between exploratory–confirmatory questions and unstructured–structured methods (Figure 4.2). By “structure,” I mean the amount of control researchers impose on data collection. The difference between a structured and unstructured interview, for example, is the likelihood that all participants respond to the same questions in the same order. The basic principle for matching methods and questions is that the less we know about any given phenomenon, the less structure we ought to impose, so that we remain open to discovery. As we learn more and begin to develop hunches about what’s going on, we often want to impose more structure to test our ideas (Weller 2015).

Note that “structure” does not mean “qualitative” or “quantitative”; qualitative and quantitative data and analysis cut across the continuum. For example, informal interviews conducted during participant observation – Reese’s (2019) “conversation with Mr. Johnson” – generate qualitative data and fall at the unstructured end of the continuum. But we could also obtain qualitative data from more structured methods, such as an open-ended survey that poses the same questions to each respondent in the same way, as Reese (2019, pp. 52–55) also did. The choice between these methods depends on the balance between exploratory and confirmatory objectives. Informal interviews would remain open to discovery, whereas an open-ended survey would permit systematic comparisons between respondents.