An interview is a purposeful exchange of meanings.

The psychological atmosphere is as important as the mechanics.

Interviewing requires insight into the dynamics of the interaction.

The quality of the interview relies mainly on the successful development of a relationship.

An interview is different from a normal conversation in that it is directed and controlled by the interviewer.

The success of the interview rests entirely with the skill of the interviewer.

Limited Response--closed out number open questions, scope of responses limited.

Free Response--open questions and discussion arising from some general points of discussion made by the interviewer. More responsibility is given to the interviewer to keep the conversation going.

Defensive Response--the interviewer exerts pressure on the respondent in an attempt to get them to defend their true position on a subject.

In attempts to extract personal or sensitive data from respondents, it may be necessary to adjust the interviewing technique to the respondent.

People do not want to be seen as deviants and may refuse to answer certain questions.

The interviewer must use their judgement to estimate the personality of the subject and then adjust their interview accordingly.

It is often a difficult task and the interviewer must be careful of introducing stereotypes.

The relationship established between the interviewer and the person being interviewed (the rapport) is vital.

Interviewers are often the main source of error in field research.

The selection of an interviewer is difficult and requires an intimate knowledge of the survey and the creation of a interviewer profile.

Intelligence and aptitude tests generally do not help in the selection process.

The only real way to judge the competence of a particular interviewer is to conduct ‘dummy-interviews’.

It has been found that women are generally preferred over men for the following reasons:

More suitable for interviewing housewives

Available fairly readily

Natural aptitude for routine and repetitive work

Equally acceptable to interviewees of both sexes

Not so aggressive

More likely to be invited into homes for more lengthy interviews.

Training is vital to successful interviewing and should be extensive, covering all the essential aspects of interviewing.

Supervision in the field is also vital to improving response rates.

Locate the subjects to be interviewed.

Translate contacts into effective interviews.

Secure valid and reliable answers to questions.

Accurate recording of responses.

It is difficult to pinpoint a successful interviewer.

They have a certain quality shared most often with successful salesmen.

An uncanny ability to get people to trust them and to open up and divulge information they might in other cases not.

High intelligence and education are no necessary and can be a hindrance as the work is often repetitive and boring.

The most vital characteristics are: experience, training, and communication skills.

Some evidence has suggested that in some cases it is advisable to ethnically match interviewers with respondents.

This is especially true in matters related to race.

There are also some issues to be aware of concerning religion, language, and culture.

Bias can result if the number of non-respondents is high.

It has been shown that that non-respondents often differ significantly in their opinions and behaviors from respondents.

Recalling is necessary to bring non-response down to a minimum.

Bias can also arise from refusals to take part in a survey. However, in general, the refusal rate for surveys is low.

Good explanatory letters appear to significantly increase the response rate.

There has over time been a general decline in response rates.

It would appear that people are becoming less inclined to participate in surveys and interviews.

Participation incentives are being used more often these days.

Care must be taken that the incentives are not too great and create bias in the results.