A Successful Interviewer is:
1. Knowledgeable: is thoroughly familiar with the focus of the interview; pilot interviews of the
kind used in survey interviewing can be useful here.
2. Structuring: gives purpose for interview; rounds it off; asks whether interviewee has
questions.
3. Clear: asks simple, easy, short questions; no jargon.
4. Gentle: lets people finish; gives them time to think; tolerates pauses.
5. Sensitive: listens attentively to what is said and how it is said; is empathetic in dealing with
the interviewee.
6. Open: responds to what is important to interviewee and is flexible.
7. Steering: knows what he/she wants to find out.
8. Critical: is prepared to challenge what is said, for example, dealing with inconsistencies in
interviewees’ replies.
9. Remembering: relates what is said to what has previously been said.
10. Interpreting: clarifies and extends meanings of interviewees’ statements, but without
imposing meaning on them.
11. Balanced: does not talk too much, which may make the interviewee passive, and does not
talk too little, which may result in the interviewee feeling he or she is not talking along the
right lines.
12. Ethically sensitive: is sensitive to the ethical dimension of interviewing, ensuring the
interviewee appreciates what the research is about, its purposes, and that his or her answers
will be treated confidentially.
The Interview as an Interpersonal Encounter
The social skills of empathy, warmth, attentiveness, humor (where appropriate), and
consideration are essential for good interviewing.
Any judgmental attitudes, shock or discomfort will be immediately detected.
Never answer a question for the respondent.
One must be completely engaged with the respondent, while at the same time keeping track
of the questions one needs to ask.
Use every active listening technique at your disposal:
o Repeating back
o “Wow!
o Tell me more about that!”
o “That is really interesting.”
Don’t be afraid of silence; you can use it to prod the respondent to reflect and amplify an
answer
Don’t follow the interview guide—follow the respondent. Follow up new information that
he or she brings up without losing sense of where you are in the interview.
Try not to think about time—relax into the interview.