Effective Interviewing

Question 1

interview

Answer 1

a purposeful communication between parties through the use of questions; structured - pre planned schedule of questions and probes; interactional - both parties share and exchange roles and info, a mutual creation and sharing of messages that come from words and nonverbal signals; info giving - orienting, training, coaching, instructing; info gathering - surveys, exit interviews, research sessions, investigations, etc.; focus groups - 6-10 interviewees with a single interviewer, focused on a specific issue; hiring/selection - candidate/employee meets with a recruiter or other organizational decision maker; performance review - focuses on skills, performance, and behaviors with the goals of coaching and goal setting

Question 2

journalistic/information interview

Answer 2

interview used to gather info from someone; make sure to schedule the interview ahead of time; tell the person about how long the interview will take; ask to record or take notes

Question 3

persuasive interview

Answer 3

attempts to change or reinforce the beliefs or behaviors of another; changing hearts and minds; here you are trying to change the way someone thinks, feels, or behaves; interviewer/persuader will engage in a mutual interaction with the interviewee/persuadee; questions are still central to this process, but their purpose is somewhat changed…need to collect info from the persuadee for the purposes of shaping your argument

Question 4

survey interview

Answer 4

gives you a high degree of reliability and replicability; they are highly structured, often standardized, interviews; all primary and probing questions prepared (ahead of time/the interview); easy to implement (limits noise/biases/inconsistencies from multiple interviewers); not too difficult to convert a detailed guide into a survey

Question 5

recruitment/employment interview

Answer 5

focusing on the hiring process from the side of the organization; one of the most “balanced” interviews, in terms of role exchange between interviewer and interviewee; info about the applicant is obtained by the organization; info about the organization is obtained by the applicant; successful recruitment is important b/c you (as the recruiter) want to bring in the best talent, bring in good culture, make the organization (more) competitive, tenure and money; make sure there is some kind of “close” or closing such as “We’ll contact you…” or “Thank you for your time…”

Question 6

distributive negotiation

Answer 6

involves a single issue (usually price) for which the two parties’ interests are in conflict

Question 7

integrative negotiation

Answer 7

also called integrative bargaining; involves value creation (expanding the pie), not just value claiming; creating a relationship b/c it’s not a one time deal; you help me I help you

Question 8

counseling interview

Answer 8

helps an interviewee gain insights into a problem; ethics - should you engage, or should you refer the interviewee to someone else, confidentiality vs. mandatory reporting; listening - for empathy and understanding (emotions) or problem solving (cognitions); approach - indirect vs. direct, primarily using probing questions; occurrence - arranged in advance by interviewer, or interviewee, or it is spontaneous

Question 9

culture/gender effects

Answer 9

gender - hard to know if differences are innate or learned; being counter normative has costs (women are told to lean in, but then are labelled as bossy or bitchy); being counter normative doesn’t always result in desired outcomes; women are told to ask for it, but are more likely to be told no; culture - culture is like an iceberg; above the waterline - observable - greeting rituals, customs, speech and nonverbal cues, conflict behavior; below - unseen, inferred - beliefs and values that guide behavior, interpretations and reactions; there is a lot of variance within groups, so not all people from the same group are exactly the same

Question 10

interview guide

Answer 10

an outline of topics and subtopics (and even sub subtopics) that will be addressed in the interview (specific areas and inquiries); benefits - ensures all areas are covered in the interview, facilities effective recording of responses, impoverished; interview guide ex: I. top study abroad programs for international business, II. cultures, III. expense, IV. teaching and facilities

Question 11

interview schedule

Answer 11

list of questions that have been prepared to serve as a guide for interviewers to collect info about a topic; not to be confused with an interview guide - which has a list of topics - an interview schedule is a list of questions that have been prepared ahead of time

Question 12

moderately scheduled

Answer 12

probably best; all major questions and possible probes; some flexibility for unplanned probes and adaptation; built in interviewer bias may be worse than accidental bias encountered in nonscheduled and moderately scheduled interviews

Question 13

highly scheduled interview

Answer 13

strict/rigid; all major questions and pre planned process; no deviation and no unplanned probes; also used for research and surveys

Question 14

highly scheduled standardized interview

Answer 14

cold/robotic; every instance of the same interview is identical; questions have specific answer options; no probing or explanation; use in research or in surveys

Question 15

unscheduled (non scheduled) interview

Answer 15

unstructured - no preplanned questions; most appropriate when - an interview is brief, interviewees and info levels differ significantly, interviewees are reluctant to respond or have poor memories, little preparation time

Question 16

open questions

Answer 16

provide interviewee with freedom to determine the amount and type of info provided; highly open questions place no restrictions and give little direct guidance about info being sought (for ex. - tell me about your summer vacation? what do you remember about 9/11?); moderately open questions give some specific guidance (for ex. - tell me about the trip you took on summer vacation? when you watched the news coverage of the towers falling on 9/11, what were you thinking?)

Question 17

closed questions

Answer 17

have a narrow focus and are designed to elicit restricted answers; bipolar questions give the respondents only two options - do you own a car? are you an undergrad or a grad student?; highly closed questions typically ask for a single piece of info - what year did you graduate high school? what airport did you fly into?; moderately closed questions ask for specific info without elaboration from respondents - what current TV shows do you regularly watch? what are your favorite places to eat in Fairfield?

Question 18

primary questions

Answer 18

introduce a new topic or subtopic (for ex. - why did you choose to study I/O psych? which course in the I/O program did you find the most valuable?); should stand alone (don’t need larger context to know the correct response)

Question 19

probes

Answer 19

if answers to primary questions are unsatisfactory (incomplete, superficial, vague) you may need to probe the respondent for more info (for ex. - can you explain what you mean by “confusing”?); usually only make sense within the context of the earlier questions; many types - silent, nudging, clearinghouse

Question 20

clearinghouse probe

Answer 20

good practice to utilize a clearinghouse probe to ensure you have covered everything of importance on a particular topic; ask respondents to volunteer any info that they think is relevant that the questions you prepared didn’t cover/elicit (for ex. - is there anything else you’d like to tell me about your trip? is there anything I didn’t ask you about that you think is important for this issue?); also provide a good wrap up of a particular topic, allowing a clear segue into any new areas

Question 21

silent probe

Answer 21

if the interview hasn’t said enough, sometimes remaining silent is sufficient to induce more sharing; can be accompanied by other non-verbal cues, such as eye contact, a head nod, or hand gesture

Question 22

nudging probe

Answer 22

if silence isn’t sufficient, but you want to encourage the interview to continue on a topic; for ex. - I see…, Go on…, And?…, So?…,

Question 23

non-verbals

Answer 23

non-verbals govern how other people receive us and how we are thinking about ourselves (powerful vs. powerless); use positive non verbal communication - make eye contact, smile, give a firm handshake, sit upright, avoid fidgeting, speak clearly, conversationally and confidently; nonverbal communication is critical in creating a good first impression and establishing your legitimacy; it signals sincerity, trust and trustworthiness, warmth, interest, the seriousness the interview, and the emotions being experienced

Question 24

self-monitoring

Answer 24

APA definition - a personality trait reflecting an ability to modify one’s behavior in response to situational pressures, opportunities, and norms; high self-monitors are typically more apt to conform their behavior to the demands of the situation, whereas low self-monitors tend to behave in accord with their internal feelings; two components - awareness of others’ responses and motivation to adapt; may have better performance evaluations and be more adept at impression management and networking, but may also be less likely to act on their own attitudes

Question 25

levels of interaction

Answer 25

the level of interaction between the interviewer and interviewee, depends on pre-existing relationship and purpose of interview; 1. safe and non-threatening - questions require brief and socially accepted responses, no prior (or likely future) relationship; 2. moderately risky - requires trust, probes personally beliefs/attitudes, sometimes related to controversial issues, current relationship, but may be more formal; 3. risky - involves full disclosure of feelings/attitudes, typically in strong, established relationships

Question 26

interview “shapes”/sequences

Answer 26

the organization of question types and content across the interview; tunnel (aka string of beads) - a straight and consistent sequence of questions, questions can be open or closed, works well for simple interviews; funnel - begins with broad open questions then moves to more restricted questions, good way to get interviewee comfortable, especially if the topic is non threatening and they are knowledgeable; inverted funnel - begins with more restricted and closed questions then moves into broader and more open questions, good if the interviewee needs to warm up to the interview and build momentum answering questions, hesitancy to response may be due to a less comfortable topic or feeling that one isn’t knowledgeable or anxiety about the interview process; hourglass - combines funnel and inverted funnel, begin with open questions then move to closed and return to open, allows you to narrow focus then return to broader issue; diamond - opposite of hourglass, begins with closed questions then moves to more open questions then return to closed; quintessential 5 step approach - 1. awareness of issue (are you familiar with the…?), 2. uninfluenced attitude (knowledge, objective impact), 3. specific attitude (approve or disapprove), 4. reason why (rationale behind specific attitude), 5. intensity of attitude (how strongly do you feel)

Question 27

interviewee motivation

Answer 27

interviewees’ willingness to participate, and to move past “level 1” interactions, hinge on a successful opening; poor openings result in defensive climate, producing short, vague, or inaccurate responses; effective openings motivate interviewee, establishing a mutually created dialogue; the primary function of the opening is to motivate the interviewee; motivate both parties and participate willingly and communicate freely and accurately

Question 28

survey scale options

Answer 28

evaluative - ask interviewees to make judgments or express opinions, typically bipolar, usually an odd number of response options, can also give them a cheat sheet that has the scale on it that they can refer to; frequency - respondents select the number/range that most accurately represents how often they do something, be mindful of the response bins you create, depending on the analysis plan for the data; numerical - respondents select the number/range that most accurately reflects their category, good for things like age, income, education level, rank, tenure

Question 29

nominal scales

Answer 29

categorical response options, which are mutually exclusive and do not have a meaningful order; for ex. - do you consider yourself to be a democrat, republican, independent?

Question 30

ordinal scales

Answer 30

interviewees rank/rate response options

Question 31

bogardus social distance scale

Answer 31

allows you to assess if a person’s attitude towards an issue changes depending on the social distance (as it becomes closer to home); respondents may endorse policies for people/places far away from them, but not for their immediate/personal sphere; may reveal “not in my backyard” bias

Question 32

honesty/ethics in interviewing

Answer 32

always be honest, never lie - yes, you want someone to change the way they think or behave, but it is unethical to do so through deception; three (general) rules - 1. does this action attempt or allow anyone to be deceived? 2. does this action gain a privilege/advantage to which I would not otherwise be entitled? 3. would I be satisfied by the outcome if I were on the other side of this action?; or, one rule - would you be proud to tell your mom?

Question 33

unlawful questions

Answer 33

numerous laws regulate employment practices in the U.S.; EEOS oversees compliance and enforcement of laws; be aware of limitations and requirements based on: Civil rights act of 1964 (Title VII), Equal pay act of 1963, Age discrimination in Employment act of 1967, Americans with disabilities act of 1990, Civil rights act of 1991, Rehabilitations act of 1973, and Genetic information nondiscrimination act of 2006; as a general rule, focus on what applicants can do, not what they cannot

Question 34

STAR method for responding to open questions

Answer 34

situation - setting, background, parties, location, time; task - what needed to be done and why; action - what did you do; result - what was the outcome; (answering questions - craft compelling mini speeches with logical narrative and clear purpose)

Question 35

PAR method for responding to open questions

Answer 35

problem - assigned task; action - solution to the problem; result - consequences of the actions; (answering questions - craft compelling mini speeches with logical narrative and clear purpose)

Question 36

BATNA

Answer 36

best alternative to a negotiated agreement (BATNA); aka - best outside option or plan B

Question 37

reservation point

Answer 37

also called reservation price (RP); your bottom line, or walk away point; do not give away your reservation point right away; your BATNA +/- things that make you want this deal

Question 38

bargaining zone

Answer 38

also called the zone of potential agreement (ZOPA) or bargaining zone; it is the space between two parties RP, can be negative