Types of Interview

The various types of interview patterns are discussed

as below:

On the basis of the manner in which they are conducted,

interviews are generally of the following types:

1) Structured Interview

It is also known as controlled, guided or directive

interview. Under this a predetermined questionnaire

is used. The interviewer is asked to get the answers to

those questions only. He/she generally does not add

anything from his own side. The language too is not

changed. He/she can only interpret the statement

wherever necessary.

2) Unstructured Interview

It is also known as uncontrolled or non-directive

interview. No direct or predetermined questions are

used in this type of interview. The interviewers may

develop questions as the interview proceeds. It is

generally held in the form of free discussions. The basic

objective of this method is to get the client express

himself/herself freely.

3) Mixed or Depth Interview

It is a combination of structured and unstructured types

of interviews. Under this method the client is free to

express himself/herself but at the same time structured

questions provide a base of information to the

interviewers to compare the clients. The method of

conducting an interview will be influential to a

considerable extent by the purpose of the interview.

On the basis of the purposes they serve, interviews are

of following types, some are primarily directed towards

obtaining information, some primarily towards giving

help. Most, however involve a combination of the two.

1) Information gathering or social study interview

Its purpose is to obtain a focused account of the

individual in terms of social functioning. The information

enables the worker to understand the client in relation

to the social problem situation. Knowledge about the

client and his situation is a necessary prerequisite to

an understanding of the client in his situation. And

understanding is a necessary prerequisite for effectively

intervening to bring about change.

2) Diagnostic / Decision-making Interviews

This type of interview is geared towards the appraisal

and determination of :

a) what the problem or the trouble is.

b) what factors seem to be contributing to it.

c) what can be changed and modified.

As the caseworker listens to each interview he/she

constantly tries to answer the above three questions

and what he/she does in the immediate interview will

be, to a large extent, dependant on this understanding.

For example, in the case of a delinquent juvenile, the

caseworker has to direct the interview in answering

the following questions:

_ how the client sees himself/herself as a

delinquent.

_ what role his/her parents, peers, neighbourhood

have played in contributing to the problem.

_ The teacher’s attitude, school curriculum and

environment.

_ Other contributing factors such as current

provocations, historical factors, personality

makeup etc.

_ The anxiety, anger and other such feelings

experienced by the clients.

_ What needs to be changed in the client and/or

his/her environment.

Diagnostic interview is multifaceted and is an orderly

attempt to understand the client-situation

configuration.

3) Therapeutic Interview

The purpose of this interview is to effect change in the

client, in his/her social situation, or in both. The goal

is more effective social functioning on the part of the

client as a consequence of the therapeutic changes.

Such interviews involve the use of special remedial

measure to effect changes in the feelings, attitudes

and behaviour on the part of the client in response to

the social situation.

 _ Professional failure, self-control in case of the

client’s hostility, rejection and abusive behaviour

_ Coming unprepared for the interview

Concept and Purpose of Interview,

What is an Interview ?

The most obvious feature of an interview is that it

involves communication between two individuals. But

can all interactions between two people be termed as

interview? When two friends are talking to each other

is it an interview? When a father and son are conversing

with each other is it an interview? No, it is not. You

have to distinguish between mere conversation and an

interview. Not all the talks that take place between two

people can be termed as an interview. Interview is not

a mere conversation but a purposeful, directed

conversation. One person, i.e., the interviewer takes

the responsibility for the development of the

conversation. He/she sees to it that the conversation

moves towards the desired goal.

The professional interview is different from an informal

interview for varied reasons, the predominant feature

being that it is conducted within the framework of a

specialized knowledge and skill. In a professional

interview the interviewer operates within the confines

of a well defined setting and is backed by organised

experience and recognized competence, working towards

known and established purposes.

Interviewing is an integral and important activity in

every profession. Both experienced practitioners and

relatively inexperienced social workers struggling on

the job with all the recurrent problems of interviewing,

and seeking some specific guidelines and answers, may

benefit from an explicit examination of the interview in

this chapter.

Interview --- A Purposeful Conversation

The simplest definition of an interview is that it is a

conversation with a deliberate purpose, a purpose

mutually accepted by the participants. It is usually a

face-to-face interaction which involves both verbal and

non-verbal communication between people during which

ideas, attitudes and feelings are exchanged.

Distinguishing Interview from Conversation

The crucial characteristic which distinguishes an

interview from a conversation is that interview

interaction is designed to achieve a conscious purpose.

If the interaction has no purpose, it may be conversation

but it may not be termed as an interview.

The point of differences between an interview and

conversation are listed below:

1) Since the interview has a definite purpose, its

content is chosen to facilitate achievement of the

purpose. The orientation of the conversation is

associational, and there is no central theme.

2) If the purpose is to be achieved, one person has to

take responsibility for directing the interaction

(designated as interviewer) so that it moves towards

the goal. There are no comparable terms to indicate

status, positions and role behaviour in a

conversation as its participants have mutual

responsibility for its course.

3) In an interview between a professional and a client,

one person asks questions and another answers

them partly because someone has to take the

leadership. Here, two people are working on the

problem of one.

4) The actions of the interviewer must be planned,

deliberate and consciously selected to further the

purpose of interview whereas the behaviour of all

the parties to a conversation may be spontaneous

and unplanned.

5) An interview requires exclusive attention to the

interaction. A conversation, however, can be

peripheral to other activities.

6) Because it has a purpose, the interview is usually

a formally arranged meeting. A definite time, place

and duration are established for the interview.

7) Because an interview has a purpose other than

amusement, unpleasant facts and feelings are not

avoided. In a conversation, the usual tacit

agreement is to avoid the unpleasant.