An advantage of a structured interview over a questionnaire is that there will be a high response rate and people are more likely to give honest responses. Compared with semi-structured or unstructured interviews they can be more reliable, as the exact same interview can be repeated.

A disadvantage compared with other types of interview is that it is much less valid. The interviewer has to persist with a particular line of questioning even if the interviewee has other interesting things to say. Compared with a postal questionnaire, it is time-consuming and unlikely to be able to get as large a sample.