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Victims can provide details necessary to resolve criminal investigations but may be reluctant to come forward and fully disclose an incident to law enforcement. Although evidence‐based interviewing techniques such as rapport‐building have shown promise in increasing cooperation, the potential impact of interviewers' inherent characteristics (e.g., age and gender) on information disclosure has been relatively under examined. We investigated mock sexual assault victims' preferences for various police interviewer characteristics and the impact of these preferences on hypothetical reporting behaviour. Participants rated interviewers' interpersonal skills as highly important. Gender differences were observed, with only female participants consistently reporting that having a same‐gender interviewer was important. Participants also indicated that if they were provided with their preferred interviewer, they would feel more comfortable, provide more detail, and would be more willing to report the offence to police. Our findings suggest that matching interviewees with their preferred interviewers may improve interviewing and investigative outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We used a media-focused vignette experiment to test how speaker role and norm-violation level influenced perceived incivility, including respondents' age, gender, and partisanship as covariates. One vignette involved deception regarding immigration in political talk radio; the other involved epithetic name-calling in televised political talk regarding state-funded contraception. Respondents perceived the same deception as more uncivil when from a talk radio host-pundit relative to a call-in listener. Respondents did not perceive the same name calling as more uncivil when from a TV interviewer than from a citizen panelist. Covariate effects were found for name-calling, but not deception. Overall findings suggest Americans still hold media practitioners to a higher standard of truthfulness and that reactions to incivility are contextual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interviewer characteristics are usually assumed fixed over the fieldwork period. The number of sample units that require the interviewers' attention, however, can vary strongly over the fieldwork period. Different workload levels produce different constraints on the time interviewers have available to contact, recruit and interview each target respondent, and may also induce different motivational effects on interviewers' behavior as they perform their different tasks. In this article we show that fine-grained, time-varying operationalizations of project-specific workload can be useful to explain differences in interviewers' field efforts and achieved response outcomes over the fieldwork period. We derive project-specific workload for each interviewer on each day of fieldwork in two rounds of the European Social Survey in Belgium from contact history and assignment paradata. Project-specific workload is measured as (1) the number of sample units which have been and remain assigned on any day t (assigned case workload), and (2) the number of sample units for which interviewer activity has started and not yet ceased on any day t (active case workload). Capturing temporal variation in interviewers' workloads in a direct way, the time-varying operationalizations, are better predictors than are the interviewer-level operationalizations of typical (active or potential) workload that are derived from them, as well as the traditional total-count workload operationalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital interviews are a potentially efficient new form of selection interviews, in which interviewees digitally record their answers. Using Potosky's framework of media attributes, we compared them to videoconference interviews. Participants ( N = 113) were randomly assigned to a videoconference or a digital interview and subsequently answered applicant reaction questionnaires. Raters evaluated participants' interview performance. Participants considered digital interviews to be creepier and less personal, and reported that they induced more privacy concerns. No difference was found regarding organizational attractiveness. Compared to videoconference interviews, participants in digital interviews received better interview ratings. These results warn organizations that using digital interviews might cause applicants to self-select out. Furthermore, organizations should stick to either videoconference or digital interviews within a selection stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interviewer characteristics affect nonresponse and measurement errors in face-to-face surveys. Some studies have shown that mismatched sociodemographic characteristics – for example gender – affect people's behavior when interacting with an interviewer at the door and during the survey interview, resulting in more nonresponse. We investigate the effect of sociodemographic (mis)matching on nonresponse in two successive rounds of the European Social Survey in Belgium. As such, we replicate the analyses of the effect of (mis)matching gender and age on unit nonresponse on the one hand, and of gender, age and education level (mis)matching on item nonresponse on the other hand. Recurring effects of sociodemographic (mis)match are found for both unit and item nonresponse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On surveys that assess sensitive personal attributes, indirect questioning aims at increasing respondents' willingness to answer truthfully by protecting confidentiality. However, the assumption that subjects understand questioning procedures fully and trust them to protect their privacy is rarely tested. In a scenario-based design, we compared four indirect questioning procedures in terms of their comprehensibility and perceived privacy protection. All indirect questioning techniques were found to be less comprehensible by respondents than a conventional direct question used for comparison. Less-educated respondents experienced more difficulties when confronted with any indirect questioning technique. Regardless of education, the crosswise model was found to be the most comprehensible among the four indirect methods. Indirect questioning in general was perceived to increase privacy protection in comparison to a direct question. Unexpectedly, comprehension and perceived privacy protection did not correlate. We recommend assessing these factors separately in future evaluations of indirect questioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Premised on a body of literature suggesting target-interviewer rapport is a critical component of successful interviews, we explored the effect of two interpreter-related variables – the physical placement of the interpreter in the room, and the nature of the relationship between the interpreter and the target – on target-interviewer rapport. A total of 125 bilingual (Spanish/English) participants viewed a mock crime video and were then interviewed, via an interpreter (or not). Interpreters either built rapport with the participant immediately prior to the interview or did not, and were either seated beside the interviewer or behind the target, commensurate with recommendations from training manuals. When the interpreter and target engaged in a short rapport-building session prior to an investigative interview, the target rated their interaction with the interviewer less negatively compared to when rapport building did not occur. Furthermore, when the interpreter sat behind the target, the target viewed the interaction more negatively than when the interpreter sat beside the interviewer (triangular configuration). These findings suggest ways in which interpreters can be utilized more effectively, especially in terms of seating configuration, rapport development between a target and interpreter, and importantly, the potential for that target-interpreter rapport to transfer to the target-interviewer relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Self-report survey research has become the bedrock of theory construction and testing in the social sciences. Given the sensitive nature of topics examined in psychology, criminology, and elsewhere empirical understanding of factors that affect the validity and reliability of the data are crucial. As a result, a wide swath of research has evaluated the extent to which various methods of self-report techniques affect data quality. Left relatively under examined in this literature is the extent to which interviewer characteristics influence variation in self-reported data regarding sensitive behaviors. The current study addresses this gap by assessing the influence of a variety of interviewer characteristics on reports of antisocial behavior, victimization, and sexual behavior. Employing data from a nationally representative sample of American adults, multi-level analyses indicated that interviewer characteristics had virtually no effect on the variation in these behaviors. Discussion focuses on the validation of the data for analyses using these measures and study limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article talks about the role played by sex and sexualisation during a research process. Topics discussed include women's bodies being objectified during research interviews, the relation between male interviewees who have a history of violence against women and female researchers, and erotic subjectivities in research.

A review is presented of the article “Interviewing Practices, Conversational Practices, And Rapport: Responsiveness and Engagement in the Standardized Survey Interview” by Dana Garbarski, Nora Cate Schaeffer and Jennifer Dykema, which is appeared in this issue of the journal.

Background: Interviewing is one of the main methods used for data collection in qualitative research. This paper explores the use of semi-structured interviews that were conducted by students with other students in a research study looking at cultural diversity in an international medical school. Specifically this paper documents and gives 'voice' to the opinions and experiences of interviewees and interviewers (the peers and the communities) on the value of peer interviewing in the study and outlines (1) the preparation made to address some of the foreseen challenges, (2) the challenges still faced, and (3) the benefits of using peer interviews with respect to the research study, the individual and the institution. Methods: Peer interviewing was used as part of a two-year phased-study, 2012-2013, which explored and then measured the impact of cultural diversity on undergraduate students in a medical higher education institution in Ireland. In phase one 16 peer interviewers were recruited to conduct 29 semi-structured interviews with fellow students. In order to evaluate the peer interviewing process two focus group discussions were held and an online survey conducted. Results: Key findings were that substantial preparations in relation to training, informed consent processes and addressing positionality are needed if peer-interviewing is to be used. Challenges still faced included were related to power, familiarity, trust and practical problems. However many benefits accrued to the research, the individual interviewer and to the university. Conclusions: A more nuanced approach to peer interviewing, that recognises commonalities and differences across a range of attributes, is needed. While peer interviewing has many benefits and can help reduce power differentials it does not eliminate all challenges. As part of a larger research project and as a way in which to get 'buy-in' from the student body and improve a collaborative research partnership peer interviewing was extremely useful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While many factors, such as unit- and item nonresponse, threaten data quality, we focus on data contamination that arises primarily from task simplification processes. We argue that such processes can occur at two levels. First, respondents themselves may engage in various response strategies that minimize their time and effort in completing the survey. Second, interviewers and other employees of the research institute might take various shortcuts to reduce their time and/or to fulfill the requirements of their contracts; in the simplest form this can be done via copy-and-paste procedures. This paper examines the cross-national quality of the reports from principals of schools participating in the 2009 PISA. We introduce two measures of data quality to document that extreme response simplification characterizes the behavior of substantial numbers of school principals in numerous countries. Additionally, we discovered strong evidence of data fabrication in several countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article illustrates a reflective exercise undertaken by a novice researcher who committed numerous "interview don'ts" during her first attempt at qualitative interviewing as part of a study. These mistakes occurred despite her attempts to learn qualitative interviewing best practices and develop her craft of interviewing beforehand. To identify and explore these mistakes, unstructured interviews were reflexively analyzed for emerging themes. The analysis found that communicative barriers were constructed between the novice researcher and her participants as a result of her (1) losing track, (2) steering and (3) lack of clarity. These barriers thwarted the researcher's efforts to capture her participants' voice because they were drowned out by her own. To minimize and overcome the inevitable mistakes novice researchers will make, this article recommends they are deliberately reflexive in order to further develop their qualitative interviewing skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Therapeutic jurisprudence sees the law as a social force; its underlying idea is that legal procedures should promote the psychological well-being (PWB) of individuals involved in juridical actions. In this experimental study, 146 subjects were assigned to one of two groups: one undergoing humanitarian rapport interviews, the other undergoing non-rapport interviews. Each group underwent two interviews separated by a six-month interval. The causal effects of interview style on interviewees’ PWB were measured using sense of coherence and State–Trait Anxiety inventories, both pre and post interview at Interviews I and II. Analysis of covariance of scores from both interviews showed interaction effects between interview style and interviewees’ anxiety and sense of coherence, respectively. At Interview I, a non-rapport approach was related to increased anxiety, that is, decreased PWB when comparing pre- and post-interview testing. At Interview II, a humanitarian rapport approach promoted improved sense of coherence, thus, increased PWB. More empirical research on PWB in relation to therapeutic jurisprudence is needed. The discussion focuses on how PWB should be measured in a therapeutic jurisprudential context of investigative interviews. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We assess whether the probability of a sample member cooperating at a particular wave of a panel survey is greater if the same interviewer is deployed as at the previous wave. Previous research on this topic mainly uses nonexperimental data. Consequently, a) interviewer change is generally nonrandom, and b) continuing interviewers are more experienced by the time of the next wave. Our study is based on a balanced experiment in which both interviewer continuity and experience are controlled. Multilevel multiple membership models are used to explore the effects of interviewer continuity on refusal rate as well as interactions of interviewer continuity with other variables. We find that continuity reduces refusal propensity for younger respondents but not for older respondents, and that this effect depends on the age of the interviewer. This supports the notion that interviewer continuity may be beneficial in some situations, but not necessarily in others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A review is presented of the article “Interviewing Practices, Conversational Practices, And Rapport: Responsiveness and Engagement in the Standardized Survey Interview” by Dana Garbarski, Nora Cate Schaeffer and Jennifer Dykema, which is appeared in this issue of the journal.

Many studies have demonstrated the impact of interviewers' characteristics on applicants' reactions in terms of their impressions of the organization and their intentions to accept the job offer. However, previous research has generally neglected the effect of interviewers' characteristics on applicants after they join the firm. The present study, which involved a sample of 200 employees from different industries, showed that interviewers' characteristics significantly affect applicants' job satisfaction, motivation, and performance after they were hired in the firm. However, the results did not show support for the proposed effect of interviewers' characteristics on organizational commitment. Discussions and conclusions are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how interviewer gender influences responses to marriage-related questions in face-to-face surveys utilizing the 2006 China General Social Survey (CGSS). The specific marriage items examined concern respondent's views of the happiness of married people and normative views of marriage and ask: (a) whether married men are happier than unmarried men; (b) whether married women are happier than unmarried women; (c) whether getting married is better than being single; and (d) whether staying married is better than getting divorced. Drawing from social desirability theory, this article examines two specific research questions. First, does the gender of the interviewer influence respondents' normative views of marriage? Second, do the effects of interviewer's gender on these questions differ for male and female respondents? The results provide mixed support for gender-of-interviewer effects. Consistent with social desirability theory, the findings indicate that female interviewers elicit more pro-marriage and neutral responses than negative responses to the first two items than male interviewers. For the most part, social desirability theory was not supported for the last two items. Gender differences in the susceptibility to gender of interviewer effects were inconsistent across models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the ability of more or less experienced employment interviewers and laypersons to detect deception in employment interviews. Although correct beliefs about indicators of deception led to higher deception detection accuracy, more experienced employment interviewers did not show more accurate beliefs about indicators of deception and did not perform better at detecting deception than less experienced interviewers and laypersons. Furthermore, more experienced interviewers showed a less-pronounced tendency of judging messages as true irrespective of their actual truthfulness (truth bias) than less experienced interviewers and laypersons. It is suggested that experience in employment interviewing does not automatically lead to higher deception detection abilities in employment interviews, but that correcting people's beliefs about indicators of deception can do so. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While differences in witness narratives due to different interviewers may have implications for their credibility in court, this study considers how investigative interviews by different parties to the proceedings, as well as the gender and nationality of interviewers, can influence the testimony of witnesses in court who share comparable traumatic experiences. The foundation of the analysis was answers given to judges, prosecutors, civil party lawyers and defence lawyers in the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) located in Phnom Penh. Transcribed testimonies of 24 victim witnesses and civil parties which were translated from Khmer into English were analysed using a computer-based text analysis program, the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC). Results showed that when answering questions by females, witnesses used significantly more cognitive process words. When interviewed by international rather than by Cambodian parties to the proceeding witness accounts were composed of significantly more verbal expressions of affective processes and of perceptual processes. Furthermore, witnesses used most cognitive and affective process words during the interview by civil party lawyers and defence lawyers. These results may be due to a prior supportive relationship between civil parties and their lawyers and due to a more interrogative question style by the defence lawyers, who attempt to undermine the credibility of the interviewed witnesses. Data shows that LIWC analysis is an appropriate method to examine witness accounts and, therefore, contributes to a better understanding of the complex relationship between testimony in events under litigation and credibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the United Kingdom, in order to link individual-level administrative records to survey responses, respondents need to give their consent. Using an unprecedented set of respondent, interview, and interviewer characteristics derived from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) matched with an interviewer survey, this research investigates which characteristics influence consent to adding health and social security records to the survey responses. We find that consent is related to respondents’ attitudes to privacy, community mindedness and data linkage salience as well as to some interview features such as the “household contagion effect” and the survey “fidelity.” Interviewer characteristics, including their personality, attitudes to persuading respondents, and job experience, are not associated with consent. Interviewers’ survey experience in the current wave and their task-specific experience, however, do influence consent. Implications of the findings are discussed and areas for future research are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Research exploring the effects of physical attractiveness frequently assesses attractiveness by employing subjective appraisals by independent raters. However, there is reason to believe that rater characteristics – especially their sex – may systematically bias subjective ratings of physical attractiveness. The current study explores this possibility by analyzing data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N =13,330). Analyses of these data revealed that ratings of physical attractiveness are significantly influenced by the sex of the interviewer/rater. Specifically, male raters were significantly less likely than female raters to assess males as attractive, very attractive, and very unattractive. The results are explained within the context of evolutionary psychology and illustrate a methodological concern for research on physical attractiveness. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

With the present data, we explored the relations between the language of interviewer questions, children's reports, and case and child characteristics in forensic interviews. Results clearly indicated that the type of questions posed by interviewers-either probing generic or episodic features of an event-was related to the specificity of information reported by children. Further, interviewers appeared to adjust their questioning strategies based on the frequency of the alleged abuse. Children alleging single instances of abuse were asked more episodic questions than those alleging multiple abuses. In contrast, children alleging multiple incidents of abuse were asked a greater proportion of generic questions. Given that investigators often seek forensically relevant episodic information, it is recommended that training for investigators focus on recognition of prompt selection tendencies and developing strategies for posing non-suggestive, episodically focused questions. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the significant aspects of reflexvity practices in qualitative research. The authors mention that qualitative interviewing and/or data analysis are influenced by a variety of different and interellated ways of practicing reflexvity. They talk about the impact of the researcher's identity as scholars and individuals on the conceptualization of research problems. They discuss the need for researchers to practice emotional form of reflexvity during interview interactions. They also explore the need to have a sense of historic reflexivity for qualitative reseachers.

The authors investigated counselors' perspectives on using the Career Style Interview (CSI) with clients who had career concerns. Participants were a purposive sample of 34 counselors who had been trained in and who had used the CSI with clients. The findings indicated that the counselors viewed the CSI as a helpful and positive career counseling intervention. It was most effective at identifying clients' life themes and assisted them with making meaningful career decisions. Implications of these findings for career counseling practice and research are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Being able to detect deceptive information early is worthwhile for recruiters and other information-based organizational workers; unfortunately, people generally are not good at detecting deception successfully. We conducted an experiment to determine how successful reviewers can be at detecting deception in several types of dispersed interviews. The results indicated that reviewers were more accurate at detecting deceptive information than were participant interviewers; that a warning about deception's presence improved reviewers' detection accuracy; and that a warning did not have any effect on reviewers' number of false alarms between text and audio media. These findings imply that if reviewers are warned about the possible presence of deception, organizations might be able to minimize the chance of hiring high-risk job applicants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study compared the effects of open-ended versus specific questions, and various types of open-ended questions, in eliciting story-grammar detail in child abuse interviews. Methods: The sample included 34 police interviews with child witnesses aged 5-15 years (M age=9 years, 9 months). The interviewers’ questions and their relative sub-types were classified according to definitions reported in the child interview training literature. The children's responses were classified according to the proportion of story grammar and the prevalence of individual story grammar elements as defined by Stein and Glenn (1979). Results: Open-ended questions were more effective at eliciting story grammar than specific questions. This finding was revealed across three age groups, two interview phases and irrespective of how question effectiveness was measured. However, not all types of open-ended questions were equally effective. Open-ended questions that encouraged a broad response, or asked the child to elaborate on a part of their account, elicited more story-grammar detail compared to open-ended questions that requested clarification of concepts or descriptions of the next (or another) activity or detail within a sequence. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that children's ability to provide story-grammar detail is maximised when there is minimal prompting from the interviewer. Practical implications: Given the association between story grammar production and victim credibility, greater guidance is warranted in interviewer training programs in relation to the effects and administration of different types of open-ended questions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Learning to conduct good qualitative research passes beyond the acquisition of research knowledge and technical skill. A variety of attributes and abilities are important in the research process such as creativity, flexibility, and inquisitiveness, among others. Quality in qualitative research also requires the development and practice of specific habits. Such habits are likely a taken-for-granted aspect of qualitative inquiry for seasoned researchers; they might not be as obvious for less experienced researchers or students. In this article the author examines the role of habits in and on the practice of qualitative research. To illustrate this topic, he examines how researcher habits can influence the pacing of an inquiry. Qualitative research requires the learned practice of active waiting: striking a balance throughout a research project between moving forward and advancing the research process and, on the other hand, allowing adequate time for the full development of each aspect of the research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, media scholars have been paying growing attention to new television genres blending entertainment and politics. A key dilemma driving these studies concerns the consequences of political entertainment to the democratic process; less attention has been given to the implications of these shows from the perspective of political actors. In the present study we map the challenges politicians face as interviewees in the new televised environment, and explore the strategies they develop in addressing them. We highlight the concept of communicative competence as a productive framework for understanding politicians' performance in new types of televised interactions. More specifically, we apply discourse analytical tools to the analysis of Israeli and British/American examples of the "mock interview" genre (Ali G etc.), and present a typology of four coping strategies of politicians, labeled as naive, villain, defiant and sophisticated. Each strategy is based on a unique blend between various levels of awareness (i.e., contextsensitivity and self-monitoring) and cooperation (i.e., alignment with the style and framing set by interviewers). As mediatized political talk genres become more diversified, and the balance of power between politicians and the media is open for negotiation, awareness and cooperation become crucial components of communicative competence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interviewers play a crucial role in gaining cooperation from a sample unit. This paper aims to identify the interviewer characteristics that influence survey cooperation. Of principal interest to survey practitioners are interviewer attributes associated with higher cooperation rates, particularly among sample members whose characteristics are traditionally associated with a lower probability of response. Our data source is unusually rich, in that it contains extensive information on interviewers, including their attitudes and behaviors, which are linked to detailed information on both responding and nonresponding sample units. An important value of the data is that they permit examining a host of as yet unanswered questions about whether some interviewer attributes stimulate cooperation among some respondents but not others. In short, we investigate whether some sample units react favorably to certain interviewer characteristics. A multilevel cross-classified logistic model with random interviewer effects is used to account for clustering of households within interviewers, due to unmeasured interviewer attributes, and for the cross-classification of interviewers within areas. The model allows for statistical interactions between interviewer and household characteristics.We find that interviewer confidence and attitudes toward persuading reluctant respondents play an important role in explaining between-interviewer variation in refusal rates. We also find evidence of interaction effects between the interviewer and householder, for example with respect to gender and educational level, supporting the notion of similarity between interviewers and respondents generating higher cooperation. The results are discussed with respect to potential implications for survey practice and design. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Web surveys offer new opportunities for achieving high-quality responses to open-ended questions because the interactive nature of the web allows questions to be tailored to individual respondents. This article explores how respondents' level of interest in the topic of the question can influence whether they provide a response and the quality of their answers. In addition, we examine whether an interactive follow-up probe, asked after people submit their initial response to the open-ended question, can improve the quality of responses. We find that respondents' interest in the question topic significantly affects the responses to open-ended questions, and interactively probing responses to open-ended questions in web surveys can improve the quality of responses for some respondents, particularly for those very interested in the question topic. Nonresponse remains a significant problem for open-ended questions; we found high item nonresponse rates for the initial question and even higher nonresponse to the probe, especially for those less interested in the topic of the question. Consequently, interactive probing should only be used for a few key open-ended questions within a survey where high-quality responses are essential and may be more effective for respondents who are already motivated to provide a response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does the race of interviewers introduce a bias in estimating the test score gap between blacks and whites in the United States? To answer this question, I use an adult sample from the General Social Survey (GSS) in which vocabulary testing involves face-to-face and one-on-one interaction between the respondent and the interviewer. I find that black respondents perform better when tested by a black interviewer as opposed to a white interviewer. For white respondents, however, the race of the interviewer does not have a significant impact on test performance. Because most black respondents are tested by white interviewers in the GSS, the test performance of black respondents is downward biased, and the black–white test score gap is overestimated. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The essay discusses women interviewing men as part of feminist studies. A feminist subject position was considered during research regarding feminist men in Sweden. Power relations of interviews is explored alongside gender identities, verbal interactions, and meta-information. The expectations of the interviewer, assumed affinity, and negotiation are explained as they relate to aggression and dissatisfaction.

Survey methodologists are concerned that the interviewer’s characteristics may affect respondents’ answers. This paper investigates how the interviewer’s education interacts with the respondent’s perceptions and in turn affects the latter’s responses to hard questions in a biotechnology survey in Taiwan. Our results indicate that respondents with little education (junior high school or below) react to highly-educated interviewers by giving more substantive answers to both knowledge questions and attitude questions. These findings are consistent with findings in the literature on social psychology whereby the respondents can infer from the interviewer’s appearance and behavior whether the latter seems more knowledgeable than themselves, and that in interacting with someone with much more education, the one with little education senses his or her inferiority and tries to conform to the perceived expectations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article discusses interviews with artists and aspects of the interviewing process and experience. The author reflects on the diversity of media through which artists receive publicity and celebrity. The article explores interview techniques such as proper scheduling of the interview, ideal characteristics of the interviewer, phrasing of the questions, and editing of manuscripts. Other topics include research for interviews, transcribing audio tapes, putting the subject at ease, and the social conditions of artists.

Objective: A single study tested the hypothesis that simulated practice interviews for investigative interviewers of children are more effective when the role of the child respondent is played by trained actors (i.e., postgraduate psychology students) than untrained fellow participants (i.e., child protection workers). Method: The interviewers included 50 child protection service workers. Each interviewer received instruction in the use of open-ended questions and then engaged in two simulated practice interviews. The role of the child respondent in the practice interviews was played by either a trained psychology student or an untrained fellow participant. The key outcome measure was the proportion of open-ended questions, which was assessed immediately prior to and after the practice sessions, as well as 12 weeks post-training. Results: Interviewers who had practiced with trained actors had higher post-training performance (M =.83, SD =.12) compared to those who had practiced with untrained fellow participants (M =.73, SD =.13, p <.05), even at the 12-week follow up (M actors=.66, SD =.25; M untrained actors=.49, SD =.23, p <.05). Conclusions: Training programs that make better use of practice opportunities (e.g., by using trained respondents) will be more effective in improving the performance of investigative interviewers. Practice implications: A single study investigated the relative effectiveness of two simulated practice exercises for professionals who interview children about abuse. This research is relevant to professionals who design investigative interviewer training programs because it indicates that practical exercises, which are currently chosen on an ‘ad hoc’ or convenience basis, can vary markedly in their effectiveness in encouraging adherence to open questions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The relationship between interviewer and interviewee in the qualitative research interview implies a power imbalance as the researcher possesses the authority to frame the interview and ask the questions. Many feminist researchers have thus emphasized the importance of establishing rapport with the informant. In this article the consequences of the researcher's sym/antipathies towards her informants are examined. Parts of two interviews are presented in order to show how the researcher's emotional reactions entail hers as well as the informants' verbal responses and consequently the generation of data. In the interviews the female researcher was particularly emotionally challenged as they were of a delicate nature in which gender interplayed: a woman doing interviews with male refugees convicted for homicide and rape against female victims. It is further discussed whether sympathy and rapport or antipathy and a confrontational interview style—the consequences of the researchers' emotional responses to the narratives of the offences and the attitude of the interviewees—produced the best data. The article concludes that good intentions about avoiding prejudice by not reading the men's files and verdicts in advance may have been a wrong decision as it left the researcher insufficiently emotionally prepared for the information revealed in the interviews and for the encounter with the informants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses television interviewing techniques. It asserts that interviewer and interviewee must work together to provide the public with valuable information. A good interviewer is a good conversationalist, the article says. The interview process is described as a bloodless battle between two people with opposing interests: The interviewer aims to reveal the interviewee's true thoughts and feelings, while the interviewee wants to impress certain ideas on the public. Many devices can be used in the interview process, including praise, intellectual debate, and spirited confrontation, the article asserts. The article provides guidelines for both interviewer and interviewee, including defining the talking points, providing sufficient and clear information, and pacing the interview.

This study presents a technique for enhancing causal validity in in-depth interview research. The technique is based on the logic of control, as applied in various research contexts such as experiments and statistical analyses. According to this logic, to detect the real effect of an independent variable on a dependent variable, all other variables must be held constant. By using interview control questions (ICQs), this study applies this principle in in-depth interviewing. An ICQ is a probe question that controls an independent variable in the participant's thinking. Two modes are presented: simple control (neutralizing an independent variable to examine whether it is a necessary condition for an outcome) and parallel control (isolating an independent variable to examine whether it is a sufficient condition for an outcome). In both modes, the method allows for additional independent variables to surface. Applications in in-depth interviews exploring attitudes toward victimless deviance are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we discuss a problem in qualitative interviewing labeled by Bourdieu as 'false, collusive objectification'. As described by Bourdieu, interviews where this occurs appear authentic because they often echo social science concepts and terminology and therefore may please the interviewer; however, they are actually unusable. We evaluate Bourdieu's claim for the existence of 'false' interviews in light of the predominant postmodern position in qualitative research, offer examples from our own research on people diagnosed with mental illness and raise the issue of whether, when and how qualitative researchers should concern themselves with the shortcomings of interviews. We conclude with suggestions derived from Bourdieu's view on how to address the problem he described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been nearly two decades since Gabriel Almond observed that political scientists tend to sit at ‘separate tables’. Surprisingly, there has been no attempt to ask extensively among the members of the profession what they actually believe about its essential meaning, purpose, and trajectory. This paper is based on a questionnaire sent to faculty in more than 500 political science departments worldwide. Respondents were asked to define political science, to list three works that best represent political science as they understand it, and to give their views regarding what political science will be over the next twenty years.European Political Science (2008) 7, 207–219. doi:10.1057/palgrave.eps.2210171 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which examines the effects of interviewer gender on the results of survey in Mexico. The researcher employed respondents which were selected within the households including 1,600 adults in a national sample, 500 in an over-sample in Mexico City, and 300 in an over-sample of rural areas in Chiapas, Jalisco, and Oaxaca. The results of the study show that male respondents in Mexico City appear to be more susceptible to gender-of-interview effects, while in the national sample, women appear to be more progressive.

Objectives To assess candidates’ and interviewers’ perceptions of the use of a multiple mini-interview (MMI) for selection of senior house officers (SHOs) to a UK regional paediatric training programme. Methods Both candidates and interviewers completed anonymous questionnaires (comprising 16 and 25 questions, respectively). Demographic data were recorded for both groups. Data were analysed by frequencies; using Mann–Whitney and Kruskall–Wallis tests for comparisons; and Cronbach’s alpha for internal consistency within the data. Results Both candidates and interviewers were positive about the fairness of the MMI (mean scores of 4.0 and 4.4, respectively). The majority of candidates (83%) had not been to this type of interview before. Gender, age and previous experience of MMIs did not account for differences in candidate responses ( P > 0.05). A total of 86% of candidates were international medical graduates who preferred the format more than UK graduates did ( P = 0.01). Interviewers were mainly experienced consultants who agreed that the multi-station format was better than the traditional interview (mean score 4.8) and represented a reliable process (mean score 4.4). Interviewers were concerned about the range of competencies covered and the subsequent performance of candidates in post (mean scores 3.6 and 3.2, respectively). Conclusions Both candidates and interviewers agreed that the MMI format was reliable, fair and asked appropriate, easy-to-understand questions. In high-stakes interviews such as for specialty training in Modernising Medical Careers programmes, it is vital that all concerned have confidence in the selection process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined whether interviewer characteristics have (a) a direct influence on applicant attraction and job choice intentions, (b) an indirect influence via job and organizational characteristics, and (c) direct influence on applicant anxiety. A sample of graduate applicants ( N=450) was surveyed before a selection interview (Time 1) and after the employment interview (Time 2). Structural equation modeling was used to examine the hypothesized model. The results showed that interviewer characteristics (warmth, unfriendliness, job knowledge, general competence and humor) had both a direct and indirect effect on applicant attraction and job choice intentions. In addition, interviewer characteristics had a significant positive impact on applicant anxiety. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information on the concept of motivational interviewing as an evidence-based approach to counseling that helps patients perform treatment recommendations. An overview of this approach is discussed which emphasizes the use of directive including patient-centered style of interaction to help patients explore and resolve their emotions and promote behavioral change. It also discusses counseling principles including skills and case samples of this approach.

Abstract: Influences of deposition time and electrolytic current density on the giant magnetoimpedance (GMI) effect of electrodeposited CoP/Cu composite wires were systematically investigated. The CoP magnetic layer was electrodeposited onto the Cu wire of 50μm diameter. The thickness of CoP magnetic layer was controllably varied either by changing deposition time between t=2 and 10min with a fixed electrolytic current density or by changing electrolytic current density between j=130 and 900mA/cm2 at a given deposition time. Accordingly, the largest GMI effect was achieved in the wire sample with t=6min and j=639mA/cm2. At the measured frequency of 10.7MHz, the GMI ratio and its field sensitivity reached the highest values of 534% and 21%/Oe, which is promising for high-performance GMI sensor applications. It was proposed that the changes of deposition time and electrolytic current density caused variations in the domain structure of the CoP magnetic layer and hence the GMI behavior. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Using data from 548 experiments in telephone surveys conducted by the Gallup Organization, we explored how attributes of questions and respondents moderate response order effects in dichotomous categorical questions. These effects were predominantly recency effects and occurred most in questions that were more difficult to comprehend (especially among respondents with the least education), with response choices that were more difficult to comprehend (because they were complete sentences instead of words or phrases and because they were not mutually exclusive), and that were asked after many prior questions. Recency effects were also more common in questions that explicitly or implicitly encouraged respondents to wait until they had heard all the answer choices before formulating a judgment than in questions that induced respondents to begin formulating a judgment before all the answer choices had been read (especially among the least educated respondents). A study of interviewer behavior revealed patterns of pausing between and within sentences that help to explain why some types of questions are especially prone to recency effects and others are not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]