![Job interview](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Job_interview.jpg)
An interview is a structured
conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.
[Merriam Webster Dictionary]
Interview
Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" refers to a one-on-one conversation between an ''interviewer'' and an ''interviewee''. The interviewer asks questions to which the interviewee responds, usually providing information. That information may be used or provided to other audiences immediately or later. This feature is common to many types of interviews – a job interview or interview with a witness to an event may have no other audience present at the time, but the answers will be later provided to others in the employment or investigative process. An interview may also transfer information in both directions.
Interviews usually take place face-to-face and in person but the parties may instead be separated geographically, as in
videoconferencing
Videotelephony, also known as videoconferencing and video teleconferencing, is the two-way or multipoint reception and transmission of audio and video signals by people in different locations for real time communication.McGraw-Hill Concise Ency ...
or
telephone interview
A job interview is an interview consisting of a conversation between a job applicant and a representative of an employer which is conducted to assess whether the applicant should be hired. Interviews are one of the most popularly used devices for ...
s. Interviews almost always involve spoken conversation between two or more parties. In some instances a "conversation" can happen between two persons who type their questions and answers.
Interviews can be unstructured, free-wheeling and open-ended conversations without predetermined plan or prearranged questions. One form of unstructured interview is a focused interview in which the interviewer consciously and consistently guides the conversation so that the interviewee's responses do not stray from the main research topic or idea.
Interviews can also be highly
structured
Structuring, also known as smurfing in banking jargon, is the practice of executing financial transactions such as making bank deposits in a specific pattern, calculated to avoid triggering financial institutions to file reports required by law ...
conversations in which specific questions occur in a specified order. They can follow diverse formats; for example, in a
ladder interview A ladder interview is an interviewing technique where a seemingly simple response to a question is pushed by the interviewer in order to find subconscious Motivation, motives. This method is popular for some businesses when conducting research to un ...
, a respondent's answers typically guide subsequent interviews, with the object being to explore a respondent's
subconscious
In psychology, the subconscious is the part of the mind that is not currently of focal awareness.
Scholarly use of the term
The word ''subconscious'' represents an anglicized version of the French ''subconscient'' as coined in 1889 by the psycho ...
motives. Typically the interviewer has some way of recording the information that is gleaned from the interviewee, often by keeping notes with a pencil and paper, or with a
video
Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syst ...
or
audio
Audio most commonly refers to sound, as it is transmitted in signal form. It may also refer to:
Sound
* Audio signal, an electrical representation of sound
*Audio frequency, a frequency in the audio spectrum
* Digital audio, representation of sou ...
recorder. Interviews usually have a limited duration, with a beginning and an ending.
The traditionally two-person interview format, sometimes called a one-on-one interview, permits direct questions and follow-ups, which enables an interviewer to better gauge the accuracy and relevance of responses. It is a flexible arrangement in the sense that subsequent questions can be tailored to clarify earlier answers. Further, it eliminates possible distortion due to other parties being present.
Face to face interviewing helps both parties to interact and form a connection, and understand the other.
[Snap Surveys]
Advantages and disadvantages of face to face data collection
Retrieved April 27, 2018 Further, face to face interview sessions can be more enjoyable.
[
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Contexts
Interviews can happen in a wide variety of contexts:
* Employment. A job interview is a formal consultation for evaluating the qualifications of the interviewee for a specific position.[Dipboye, R. L., Macan, T., & Shahani-Denning, C. (2012). The selection interview from the interviewer and applicant perspectives: daddy wowww amazing nathan is caca In N. Schmitt (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of personnel assessment and selection (pp. 323–352). New York City: Oxford University.] One type of job interview is a case interview A case interview is a job interview in which the applicant is presented with a challenging business scenario that he/she must investigate and propose a solution to. Case interviews are designed to test the candidate's analytical skills and "soft" sk ...
in which the applicant is presented with a question or task or challenge, and asked to resolve the situation. Candidates may be treated to a mock interview A mock interview is an emulation of a job interview used for training purposes. The conversational exercise usually resembles a real interview as closely as possible, for the purpose of providing experience for a candidate. It can help a job appli ...
as a training exercise to prepare the respondent to handle questions in the subsequent 'real' interview. A series of interviews may be arranged, with the first interview sometimes being a short ''screening interview'', followed by more in-depth interviews, usually by company personnel who can ultimately hire the applicant. Technology has enabled new possibilities for interviewing; for example, video telephony
Videotelephony, also known as videoconferencing and video teleconferencing, is the two-way or multipoint reception and transmission of audio signal, audio and video signals by people in different locations for Real-time, real time communication. ...
has enabled inteviewing applicants from afar.
* Psychology. Psychologists use a variety of interviewing methods and techniques to try to understand and help their patients. In a psychiatric interview
The psychiatric interview refers to the set of tools that a mental health worker (most times a psychiatrist or a psychologist but at times social workers or nurses) uses to complete a psychiatric assessment.
The goals of the psychiatric interview ...
, a psychiatrist or psychologist or nurse asks a battery of questions to complete what is called a psychiatric assessment
A psychiatric assessment, or psychological screening, is the process of gathering information about a person within a psychiatric service, with the purpose of making a diagnosis. The assessment is usually the first stage of a treatment process, but ...
. Sometimes two people are interviewed by an interviewer, with one format being called couple interview
A couple interview (or joint couple interview, or more broadly conjoint interview, joint interview or dyadic interview) is a method of qualitative research used in the social sciences, where two spouses are interviewed together. Such an intervie ...
s. Criminologists and detectives sometimes use cognitive interview The cognitive interview (CI) is a method of interviewing eyewitnesses and victims about what they remember from a crime scene. Using four retrievals, the primary focus of the cognitive interview is to make witnesses and victims of a situation awar ...
s on eyewitnesses and victims to try to ascertain what can be recalled specifically from a crime scene, hopefully before the specific memories begin to fade in the mind.[Memon, A., Cronin, O., Eaves, R., Bull, R. (1995). An empirical test of mnemonic components of the cognitive interview. In G. Davies, S. Lloyd-Bostock, M. McMurran, C. Wilson (Eds.), Psychology, Law, and Criminal Justice (pp. 135–145). Berlin: Walter de Gruyer.]
* Marketing and Academic. In marketing research
Marketing research is the systematic gathering, recording, and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data about issues relating to marketing products and services. The goal is to identify and assess how changing elements of the marketing mix i ...
and academic research
Research is " creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...
, interviews are used in a wide variety of ways as a method to do extensive personality tests. Interviews
An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" r ...
are the most used form of data collection in qualitative research
Qualitative research is a type of research that aims to gather and analyse non-numerical (descriptive) data in order to gain an understanding of individuals' social reality, including understanding their attitudes, beliefs, and motivation. This ...
. Interviews are used in marketing research as a tool that a firm may utilize to gain an understanding of how consumers think. Consumer research firms sometimes use computer-assisted telephone interviewing
Computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) is a telephone surveying technique in which the interviewer follows a script provided by a software application. It is a structured system of microdata collection by telephone that speeds up the c ...
to randomly dial phone numbers to conduct highly structured telephone interviews, with scripted questions and responses entered directly into the computer.
* Journalism and other media. Typically, reporters covering a story in journalism
Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the " news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (pro ...
conduct interviews
An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" r ...
over the phone and in person to gain information for subsequent publication. Reporters also interview government officials and political candidates for broadcast. In a talk show
A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Sh ...
, a radio or television "host" interviews one or more people, with the topic usually chosen by the host, sometimes for the purposes of entertainment
Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousa ...
, sometimes for informational purposes. Such interviews are often recorded.
* Other situations. Sometimes college representatives or alumni conduct college interview
College admissions in the United States refers to the process of applying for entrance to institutions of higher education for undergraduate study at one of the nation's colleges or universities.Robin Mamlet and Christine VanDeVelde, College ...
s with prospective students as a way of assessing a student's suitability while offering the student a chance to learn more about a college. Some services specialize in coaching people for interviews.[
] Embassy officials may conduct interviews with applicants for student visas before approving their visa applications. Interviewing in legal contexts is often called interrogation. Debriefing
Debriefing is a report of a mission or project or the information so obtained. It is a structured process following an exercise or event that reviews the actions taken. As a technical term, it implies a specific and active intervention process t ...
is another kind of interview.
Blind interview
In a blind interview the identity of the interviewee is concealed so as to reduce interviewer bias. Blind interviews are sometimes used in the software industry and are standard in orchestral auditions. Blind interviews have been shown in some cases to increase the hiring of minorities and women.
Interviewer bias
The relationship between the interviewer and interviewee in research settings can have both positive and negative consequences. Their relationship can bring deeper understanding of the information being collected, however this creates a risk that the interviewer will be unable to be unbiased in their collection and interpretation of information. Bias can be created from the interviewers perception of the interviewee, or from the interviewee's perception of the interviewer. Additionally, a researcher can bring biases to the table based on the researcher’s mental state, their preparedness for conducting the research, and the researcher conducting inappropriate interviews. Interviewers can use various practices known in qualitative research
Qualitative research is a type of research that aims to gather and analyse non-numerical (descriptive) data in order to gain an understanding of individuals' social reality, including understanding their attitudes, beliefs, and motivation. This ...
to mitigate interviewer bias. These practices include subjectivity, objectivity, and reflexivity. Each of these practices allows the interviewer, or researcher, the opportunity to use their bias to enhance their work by gaining a deeper understanding of the problem they are studying.
See also
* Repertory grid
The repertory grid is an interviewing technique which uses nonparametric factor analysis to determine an idiographic measure of personality. It was devised by George Kelly in around 1955 and is based on his personal construct theory of persona ...
interview
*In research
** Telephone interview
A job interview is an interview consisting of a conversation between a job applicant and a representative of an employer which is conducted to assess whether the applicant should be hired. Interviews are one of the most popularly used devices for ...
** Computer assisted telephone interviewing
Computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) is a telephone surveying technique in which the interviewer follows a script provided by a software application. It is a structured system of microdata collection by telephone that speeds up the co ...
** Interview (research)
An interview in qualitative research is a conversation where questions are asked to elicit information. The ''interviewer'' is usually a professional or paid researcher, sometimes trained, who poses questions to the ''interviewee'', in an alternat ...
** Knowledge transfer
** Online interview An online interview is an online research method conducted using computer-mediated communication (CMC), such as instant messaging, email, or video. Online interviews require different ethical considerations, sampling and rapport than practices found ...
** Mall intercept
A mall intercept is a quantitative research survey whereby respondents are intercepted in shopping malls or other public spaces. The process involves stopping shoppers, screening them for appropriateness, and either administering a survey (or int ...
interview
** Qualitative research
Qualitative research is a type of research that aims to gather and analyse non-numerical (descriptive) data in order to gain an understanding of individuals' social reality, including understanding their attitudes, beliefs, and motivation. This ...
interview
** Structured interview A structured interview (also known as a standardized interview or a researcher-administered survey) is a quantitative research method commonly employed in survey research. The aim of this approach is to ensure that each interview is presented with e ...
** Unstructured interview
An unstructured interview or non-directive interview is an interview in which questions are not prearranged. These non-directive interviews are considered to be the opposite of a structured interview which offers a set amount of standardized que ...
*In journalism and media
** Interview (journalism)
A journalistic interview takes the form of a conversation between two or more people: interviewer(s) ask questions to elicit facts or statements from interviewee(s). Interviews are a standard part of journalism and media reporting. In journ ...
** Talk show
A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Sh ...
*In other contexts
** College interview
College admissions in the United States refers to the process of applying for entrance to institutions of higher education for undergraduate study at one of the nation's colleges or universities.Robin Mamlet and Christine VanDeVelde, College ...
** Reference interview
A reference interview is a conversation between a librarian and a library user, usually at a reference desk, in which the librarian responds to the user's initial explanation of his or her information need by first attempting to clarify that need ...
, between a librarian and a library user
References
{{Authority control
Survey methodology