Interviewing Skills for Psychology Undergraduate Students, Lecture notes of Psychology

Download Interviewing Skills for Psychology Undergraduate Students and more Lecture notes Psychology in PDF only on Docsity! Psychology Interviewing Skills Interviewing Skills for Psychology Undergraduate Students Leigh Mellish, Suzanne Morris, & Mark Do The School of Psychology, UNSW The beginning of interview wisdom is to appreciate the big difference between what you want to know and how you should ask 1 Support for the development of this document has been provided by an Australian Learning and Teaching Council* (now Office for Learning and Teaching) National Teaching Fellowship (2010-2012) to Jacquelyn Cranney. Please contact the School of Psychology, UNSW for further information. *ALTC and OLT are initiatives of the Australian Government. The views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of the Australian Government. You may not use this work for commercial purposes. 1 Gordon, R. L. (1992). Basic interviewing skills. USA: F. E. Peacock Publishers Inc. Quote page 9 1 PSYC3011 Psychology Lecture and Tutorial Outcomes: After the completion of this interviewing component, students will: 1. Be able to articulate the key skills required for a range of interview types. 2. Be more confident in their ability to apply these key skills to a variety of interviewing contexts. 3. Be more aware of areas that they need to further develop when communicating in everyday situations. Interview Format Planning the Interview: Planning for an interview is an important process to understand what approach to take, and to develop appropriate questions to obtain the desired information. Planning can also increase awareness of potential pitfalls (e.g., playing devil’s advocate with the questions), and areas where one may need to show more sensitivity (e.g., controversial topics, minority groups). It is also critical to ensure that appropriate time is allocated to various topics. Most interviews have some degree of planning involved as can be seen in job interviews, in which questions are targeted to assess role relevant skills. The first decision in the planning process is the structure of an interview. There are 3 main structures: Fully- Structured Semi Structured Un- structured 4 Interview stages Once the planning has occurred, the actual interview can be considered to occur in 3 stages: Each phase serves a different purpose, and emphasises different skills. For example, building rapport is most essential in the opening phase, whereas active listening is most crucial for the main body of the interview. Opening • Introduce yourself • Establish your credentials (role, employer, affiliation) • Introduce the methods to be used to record the information • Inform how long the interview will take (don’t under-estimate) • Start with easy questions, and/or small talk to build rapport, and then transition into more stressful /difficult questions Main Body • Develop the main themes and explore the responses • Move from general information to more specific information (using open questions as well as closed questions) • Begin with the least threatening content to establish rapport and trust before exploring sensitive or confronting topics. Closing • Wind down gradually, rather than an abrupt ending • Consider recapping the key themes • If appropriate, ask if they have any questions for you. Be selective in your disclosure. • Thank the individual for their interest and effort. 5 Questions You will probably use a range of question types during the interview. Be aware that the questions you select will greatly influence the direction of the interview. You may need to ask a question in more than one way in order to elicit the information you are after. Open ended questions • Useful when the interview is exploratory, or when the emphasis is on discovering the respondent’s perspective on events. • Can motivate by allowing free association, giving recognition, allowing the interviewer to be a sympathetic listener, and avoiding more specific questions that might alert the respondent to ego-threatening information. • Disadvantage is that they are liable to a larger proportion of irrelevant information than narrower questions, and some detail may be missing. • Useful in understanding the chronological order of events, and assessing the vocabulary of the respondent. Close-Ended Questions • More readily used when the objectives of the interview are known. • Useful for more reluctant respondents (whether for reasons of motivation or language), or for those giving information not particularly important to them. • usually preceded by open questions which provide a sense of the context in which the questions are being asked Recommendation: • Broad, open-ended when you begin your dialogue. These are the least suggestive (leading) • Move from open to more specific (close-ended) when necessary • A combination of both is required to get the bigger picture as well as clarification of important details 6 Probing Questions: A probing question is a question that follows up on the answers to previous questions. These can be used to:  Clarify or search for reasons behind previous answers  Search for inconsistencies  Help the respondent deal with a topic that has been difficult to speak about  Revisit responses from earlier in the interview • "Can you tell me more about…?” • “Could you explain a little more about…?” • “Can you give me an example?” Clarifying/ elaborating • “Then what happened next?” • “Uh huh’ mm ‘I see’ ‘go on’ ‘please continue’ Expanding/ Encouraging • “You said …but now you have told me…How do you explain that? Can you tell me more?” Checking consistency • “Let’s go back to what you told me before about… In the light of what you told me later, can you now tell me more about…?” Revising 9 Biased Questions Biased questions are questions that when asked will be likely to elicit a skewed answer. These questions should be avoided as they can affect the whole structure of the interview, as a biased question may lead to biased and/or hostile responses. It is the interviewer’s responsibility to avoid bias. An example of a biased question is the following (it is also a leading question):  “You don’t…, do you?”  “You don’t support gay marriage…., do you?”  “You know smoking causes cancer, don’t you?” These questions suggest there is a ‘correct’ response, which most people would endorse. Communication Styles In the case of an interview, which often is between strangers, there can be a mismatch between the communication style of the interviewer and the respondent. The communication style needs to be considered so that clear understanding occurs between both parties. The interviewer often needs to adjust the complexity of their language, their vocabulary, and their use of jargon, to build rapport and trust. Language Complexity If you are interviewing a layperson, it is better to use a simple level of language, and avoid technical jargon and confusion (e.g., ‘Commanding officer’, instead of CO). Conversely, in a specialised population, it is better to use their terminology to gain rapport and show understanding (mirroring). 10 Vocabulary Consideration of vocabulary is also important for building rapport and obtaining the desired information. The vocabulary should be chosen to maximise the respondent’s likelihood of engaging. In some cases, the interviewer might adopt the language of an “insider”, but in other contexts, the interviewer might choose to retain the persona of an “outsider”  Insider - A prostitute may feel more comfortable discussing topic of “the spread of STIs” with an insider. Therefore, adopt insider language - ‘working girls’ rather than ‘prostitute’.  Outsider – A doctor-patient relationship. Using technical language then explaining what it means more simply, may shows credibility. Don’t use technical language to look smart. Avoid or be cautious using:  Idioms, similes, metaphors, jokes, euphemisms, colloquialisms (cultural sensitivity)  NEVER assume a shared understanding of a term – clarify to ensure your meanings are aligned. Building Rapport Rapport is a term used to describe, the relationship of two or more people who feel similar and/or relate well to each other. Rapport is important because it creates trust, which leads to a more open and honest discussion. Methods of building rapport Commonality  The technique of deliberately finding something in common with a person or a customer in order to build a sense of camaraderie and trust. This is done through shared interests, dislikes, and situations (i.e., small talk). Emotional Mirroring  Empathizing with someone's emotional state by being on 'their side'. It involves listening for key words, and then using similar valence words to show you understand what they have said.  Both too little and too much emotional expression by the interviewer results in less disclosure by the respondent 11 Posture mirroring  Matching the tone of a person's body language through mirroring the general message of their posture and energy. (do NOT use direct imitation, as this can appear as mockery) Tone and Tempo Mirroring  Matching the tone, tempo, inflection, and volume of a person's voice. Non- judgemental attitude  The respondent will not open up if they feel as they are being judged Inviting behaviour  If anxious, make them feel invited by inviting gestures/body language. If they are intrusive into your personal space, you can use more control e.g., “why don’t you sit over there? That way we can talk more comfortably?” Non-Verbal Cues Be aware of an individual’s non-verbal cues to detect their mood at the beginning. Things to look out for include:  Territorial – avoid shaking hands, seat by the door, invading your space  Behavioural – eye contact, fiddling with pencils, relaxed  Emotional (expressive) – posture, gestures, facial expression, eye contact, tone of voice Maximising Empathy Empathy can be shown by verbal and non-verbal communication. One popular approach is to use a contextual statement to show you understand e.g., “I know some of the questions I ask may be difficult for you to answer in detail…Just take your time”. However, be careful saying that you ‘understand’ the respondent’s predicament, as it could lead to a negative 14  To identify a common theme or pattern  To interrupt excessive rambling  To start a session  To end a session  To pace a session  To review progress  To serve as a transition when changing topics Factors that affect active listening  Focus is not on client (distracted, lose attention, interrupt, shift attention to oneself)  Emotional responses (criticise the client, share personal opinion) o One needs to be non-judgemental and minimise personal biases. It is good to think about one’s prejudices, and be mentally prepared for an interview. Active listening checklist  Use inviting body language  Do not appear distracted/detached during the consultation  Don’t be rushed, give respondent time and space to talk, allow silence  Encourage clarification  Summarise, paraphrase, reflect  Express understanding non-verbally (nodding, smiling, sympathising eye contact)  Acknowledge emotions of respondent  NB Admitting when you don’t understand i.e., “I don’t understand” shows you are listening 15 References Gordon, R. L. (1992). Basic interviewing skills. USA: F. E. Peacock Publishers Inc. Keats, D. M. (2000). Interviewing: A practical guide for students and professionals. Sydney: UNSW Press. McDaniel, M. A., Whetzel, D. L., Schmidt, F. L., & Maurer, S. D. (1994). The validity of employment Interviews: A comprehensive review and meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 79, 599-616. Stewart, C. J., & Cash, W. B. (1974). Interviewing: Principles and practices. Dubuque, Iowa: WCB Publishers. Yeo, A. (1993). 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