Interviewing

As Dr. Stadtlander writes, we have now begun the process of interviewing our applicants for the online lab. I wanted to comment on the issue of interviewing, both in terms of our applicant interviews but also with regard to the interviews we are asking our student researchers to conduct with elderly participants. When interviewing others for research purposes, it has been my humble experience that interviewing skills are highly valuable, complex, and can take some time to learn. I can recall, for example, interviewing patients in a psychiatric hospital who clearly did not want to be interviewed (despite agreeing to it) and who seemed to enjoy evading my questions. I can recall interviewing individuals who were easily distracted and seemed to get themselves and our interview off course with great regularity. Some individuals were just plain cranky and although they agreed to the interview, they clearly did not enjoy it. These are more extreme examples to be sure, however they are also an interviewing reality and data collection must proceed with integrity, as long as the participant is willing and able to do so. This means that as interviewers, it is our responsibility to anticipate such challenges as well as to have a plan for how we will handle them.

We have talked in this blog from time to time about the impression that applicants make in the application process and now in the interview process. I would argue that as clinical interviewers, we need to be concerned about impression management or how we present ourselves to the participants, too. Our first concern should always be the welfare of the participant and this should be evident in how we interact with these participants. After this, we need to remember that data collection requires we be objective where the data are concerned and conveyed properly, I believe this can be reassuring to participants - that their information is valued and safe with us.

Amy Sickel