LO 5: Conduct interview

LO -5 Conduct interview

Conducting an interview
You need to be alert to the many factors that can disrupt an interview, hinder
disclosure of information, or even impact on the client in such a way that they will not
participate at any point in the future.
Strategies to minimize potential disruption and help the interview progress smoothly
include:
Minimize client discomfort
Interviewees may feel pressure or be overwhelmed by their expectations or the
expectations placed on them by others. Some ways of reducing the pressure include:
 Be as relaxed and informal as the interview context will allow. Where possible,
choose an informal setting where they feel safe and familiar.
 Reduce the interviewee's anxiety by discussing it with them if it is considered
appropriate to do so.
 Provide the client with as much information as they will require (in a way that
they will understand) before the interview.
 Ensure that the client understands what is expected of them in the interview.
 Explain what will happen with the information they provide.
 Arrange for the client to have a support person with them if apprpropriate, such
as a mentor, family member or friend.
Be open-minded
Sometimes predetermined expectation of the information that you will be receiving can
hinder the collecting of information. To minimize this effect:
 Remain open to a range of possible conversations that will obtain facts.
 Enter into the interview without any set notion of the information you will be
receiving.
Minimize outside distraction
Banging doors, telephones ringing, other people's conversations being heard and big
windows opening out onto busy areas are examples of things that can cause unwanted
distractions for both you and your client.
 Make sure you are in a comfortable room that is private, well lit, has no
telephone and no distractions from fellow workers or other clients.
 Make sure that confidentiality can be maintained and that others cannot hear
your conversation.
Avoid stereotyping
A stereotype is a false but commonly held belief about a group of people. Having a
stereotypical image of a client or client group can affect the way you interact with
them in an interview. Examples of stereotypical thinking could include:
 Asian women are quiet and passive.
 Young people can't be trusted to act in a mature way.
  People with an intellectual disability are unable to make their own decisions.
 People who have English as a second language are intellectually inferior.
Stereotypes like this will affect your ability to obtain information and may cause you to
interpret some information incorrectly. Always remain open and non-judgmental in
your interactions with clients.
Maintain focus
Take care that the interview remains on track to obtain the necessary information.
Factors that make it difficult to maintain focus include:
 trauma
 embarrassment
 fear
 laughing inappropriately
 avoidance of the issue by clients
 discussing client issues not related to the interview's purpose
 Insufficient time for the client to express their situation and their needs.
Resource: How to conduct a successful interview
A six-step guide to the interviewing process:

Step 1: Preparation
Your preparation for an interview will vary according to the type of meeting you are
having. Preparing for the interview gives you the opportunity to think very clearly
about the purpose of the interview. This allows you to establish a positive
environment.
Points to consider in preparing for an interview include:
 Awareness of the statutory power you hold and the rights of the clients.
 Familiarity with agency policy and procedure on interviewing and recording of
information.
 Talking with clients and seeking their permission for the interview and
recording procedure.
 Identifying any additional needs your client may have. Be aware of any special
cultural or language requirements.
 Setting up a room or space that is appropriate for the type of interview you are
conducting, e.g. a formal setting around a boardroom table or an informal
interview around a meeting room coffee table, or at the interviewee’s home.
 Consulting senior officers or supervisors for support and guidance.
 Preparing a checklist of things you need to do or say in the interview, if needed.
 Identifying and setting up appropriate recording tools.
 Being clear about confidentiality requirements.
 Understanding your role and responsibility as the interviewer.
 Clearly defining the purpose of the interview.
 Making sure an interpreter is present if necessary.
Step 2 - Introduction
It is your responsibility as an interviewer to set the scene for the interview. The
following tasks need to be performed in any interview:
 Make the clients comfortable. The key to this is your attitude towards them,
your openness, honesty and tone of voice. It is important you speak clearly and
respect their feelings. This can often be trying in difficult situations.
 Outline the reason for the interview, the way it will be conducted, proposed
outcomes, how it is to be recorded, and access to the recorded information.
Inform clients of their rights and responsibilities. Rights and responsibilities
include dealing with grievances, refusing participation, freedom of information,
statutory and legislative requirements of you, the client and any government
body or agency involved, confidentiality and limits to confidentiality. If you are
conducting an interview to collect evidence, make sure that your client is
informed that any information could be used in court.
 Ask clients if they have any questions and if they didn't understand anything.
 It is important to encourage them to participate in the interview. An unwilling
client who is fearful of giving information will need to be approached differently
from a client who is confident and willing to explain their experiences.

Step 3 - The body of the interview

The body of the interview is where you get down to business. It is the time that you
collect the information you require and explore the substance of that information.
To access this information, you will need to use the following techniques:
Open and closed questions
Closed questions are those that can only be answered with a 'yes' or 'no'.
Open questions are questions that cannot be adequately answered by a yes or no, and
usually start with the words 'how', 'what', 'which', 'who' or 'where'.
The same topic can be put into an open or closed question. You are likely to obtain
more information from an open question, as shown in the example below.
 Closed question: Did you stand by and watch? No.
 Open question: What did you do while this happened? I went to find a
telephone.
Active listening
This involves hearing what the person says and checking that you have heard the
message the way they want you to hear it. This means asking questions about what
the client has told you, to clarify your understanding of what the client has said.
Reflecting
This is similar to active listening, except that you reflect what they say to you as a
statement rather than questions.
Maintaining rapport
This involves allowing the client to talk when they need to, asking them if they are still
happy about the interview and monitoring their capacity to contribute. For example,
are they tired, has the meeting gone too long, are they getting restless?
Feedback
This means using information from other sources and checking the facts given in your
interview with those from other meetings.
Following are some suggestions to ensure that the interview is effective:

 Use simple words.

 Use short sentences.
 Use names rather than pronouns.
 Make sure that the client understands your questions.
 Monitor their response to make sure they have understood.
 Ask the client to repeat what you have said rather than asking, 'Do you
understand?'.
 Do not respond to every answer with another question.
 Try to acknowledge the client's comment. This will encourage them to expand
on their previous statement.
Step 4 - Closure
The most important aspect of the closure of the interview is encouraging the clients to
have confidence that you will be acting in their best interests, with empathy for their
position. Usually they have given you valued information that needs to be treated with
respect. Therefore, in closing the interview, you need to:
 summaries the major points in the body of the interview
 gain agreement on facts
 gain agreement on understanding what you will do with this information
 ask if they have any questions or concerns
 Clarify whether the purpose of the interview has been met and the outcomes
have been clearly stated.
Step 5 - Recording
In human service work written records of interview are often a requirement, to allow:
 the results to be kept for reference
 feedback to participants
 a basis for appeals against decisions, if relevant
 a tool for supervisors to support the interviewee to improve their skills, etc.
Recording an interview can be quite difficult during an interview and is often best
completed directly after the interview has finished. However, if there is a lot of detail
required, you may need to ask the client's permission to write as you go along.
Sometimes, a second person can be co-opted to do this, but it will depend entirely on
the circumstances and the people involved.
Step 6 - Assessment
Those conducting the interview will usually have certain questions or criteria as the
basis for information being sought in the interview.
If an assessment is required, this will best be based on the pre-set criteria, to create a
more objective result.
To be effective, any questions for assessment purposes directed towards the person
being interviewed must be appropriate to their developmental level. There could be
major differences in language, comprehension, reasoning and memory between you
and your client; these need to be taken into consideration when developing
assessment tools.
All of these processes are aimed at ensuring that the interview situation is as effective
as possible and the person being interviewed is empowered in the process.
Obtaining information
Many interviews require you to record factual information. This will be easier if you
can develop good rapport with the client and make them feel comfortable about
providing information.
At the start of the interview:
 Outline the limits of confidentiality that can be offered to the client, and obtain
the client's consent for release of information to third parties where necessary,
e.g. Centrelink, GP, or legal guardian/carer.
 Explain clearly what the information is required for (e.g. client service planning
or court) and ensure that the information is relevant to the requirements.
 Before you begin questioning, explain that being honest with each other is
essential. Sometimes being honest can be difficult for a client because:
o they have been threatened or feel threatened
o they fear future consequences
o they fear others getting into trouble
o They are in the presence of someone they do not know.
During the interview:
 Ask simple questions that seek to have them explore the information they give
you. A combination of open and closed questions can help you ask about a
piece of information in more than one way.
 Clarify any points that you don't understand. You may choose to let the client
tell their story and seek to clarify at the end, or it may be more appropriate to
walk them through their story step by step.
 Agree on statements of fact. At the closure of the interview (you can also do this
throughout the interview if the information is complex), come to an agreement
with the client on things that appear to be fact. Put these into short and simple
statements that are clear. These can also be put into written form for the client
to sign it if you think it is appropriate to do so.
To distinguish between fact, opinion, assumption and hearsay (heard from someone
else) when you are presented with information:
 Check how this information came to be known.
 Explore whether it is first-or-second hand.
 Find out whether what they say is a belief or a known fact with some proof.
 Self-check LO -5

1. Describe three strategies that can help ensure an interview progresses smoothly.
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