Interviewing

Before you interview someone else, you must in effect interview yourself. You need to know your biases and how they will affect your perceptions. Your education, intellect, upbringing, and emotions all serve as powerful filters for what you will be hearing in your interviews.

You need to think out the interview thoroughly before you go. Visualize why you are going, what you will ask, and what will make it a successful interview in your eyes. The other half of all this is the individual you will interview. You must anticipate how to make the interview fulfilling for him or her as well.

KINDS OF INFORMATION SOUGHT

An information-gathering interview is a directed conversation with a specific purpose that uses a question-and-answer format. In the interview you want to get the opinions of the interviewee, and his or her feelings about the current state of the system, organizational and personal goals, and informal procedures, as shown in Figure 5.1.

Opinions / Goals
Feelings / Informal Procedures

Figure 5.1Kinds of information sought in interviewing

Above all, seek the opinions of the person you are interviewing. Opinions may be more important and more revealing than facts. For example, imagine asking the owner of a store how many customer refunds she typically gives each week. She replies, "About 20 to 25 a week." You search the records and discover that the average is only 10.5 per week. You might conclude that the owner is overstating the facts and the problem.

Imagine instead that you ask the owner what her major concerns are, and she replies, "In my opinion, customer refunds are way too high. We must strive to get it right the first time." By seeking opinions rather than facts, you discover a key problem that the owner wants addressed.

In addition to opinions, you should try to capture the feelings of the interviewee. Remember that the interviewee knows the organization better

PLANNING THE INTERVIEW

Five Steps in Interview Preparation

There are five major steps in interview preparation, as shown in Figure 5.2. These steps include a range of activities from gathering basic background material to deciding whom to interview.

  1. READ BACKGROUND MATERIAL
  2. ESTABLISH INTERVIEWING OBJECTIVES
  3. DECIDE WHO TO INTERVIEW
  4. PREPARE THE INTERVIEWEE
  5. DECIDE ON QUESTION TYPES AND STRUCTURE

Figure 5.2 Steps the systems analyst follows in planning the interview.

READ BACKGROUND MATERIAL. Read and understand as much background information about the interviewees and their organization as possible. This often can be obtained by a quick phone call to your contact person to ask for a current annual report, a corporate newsletter, and any publications sent out to explain the organization to the public. Check the library for any corporate information (such as that in Standard and Poor's, etc.).

As you read through this material, be particularly sensitive to the language the organizational members use in describing themselves and their organization. What you are trying to do is build up a common vocabulary that will eventually enable you to phrase interview questions in a way that is understandable to your interviewee. Another benefit of researching your organization is to maximize the time you spend in interviews rather than wasting time asking general background questions.

ESTABLISH INTERVIEWING OBJECTIVES.

Use the background information you gathered as well as your own experience to establish interview objectives. There should be 4 to 6 key areas concerning information-processing and decision-making behavior over which you will want to ask questions. These areas include: information sources, information formats, decision making frequency, qualities of information, and decision-making style.

DECIDE WHO TO INTERVIEW.

When deciding whom to interview, include key people at all levels that will be affected by the system in some manner. It is important to sample organizational members. Strive for balance so that as many users' needs are addressed as possible. Your organizational contact will also have some ideas about who should be interviewed.

PREPARE THE INTERVIEWEE.

Prepare the person to be interviewed by calling ahead and allowing the interviewee time to think about the interview. Arrange time for phone calls and meetings. Interviews should be kept at 45 minutes to an hour at the most. No matter how willing your interviewees seem to extend the interview beyond this, remember that when they spend time with you, they are not doing their other work. If interviews go over an hour, it is likely that the interviewees will resent the intrusion, whether or not they articulate their resentment.

DECIDE ON QUESTION TYPES AND STRUCTURE.

Write questions to cover key areas on decision-making discovered when you ascertained interview objectives. Proper questioning techniques are the heart of interviewing. Questions have some basic forms that you need to know. The two basic question types are open-ended and closed. Each question type can accomplish something a little different from the other, and each has benefits and drawbacks. You need to think about the effect each question type will have.

It is possible to structure your interview in three different patterns: a pyramid structure, a funnel structure, or a diamond structure. Each is appropriate under different conditions, which will be discussed later in the chapter.

The following discussion describes in detail some of the important decisions the interviewer must make. These include which questions to ask and how, whether to structure the interview, and how to document the interview.

Question Types

OPEN-ENDED (QUESTIONS. Open-ended questions include those such as, "What do you think about microcomputers for managers?" and "Please explain how you make a scheduling decision." Consider the word open-ended. "Open" actually describes the interviewee's options for responding. They are open. It can be a two-word or a two-paragraph response. Some examples of open-ended questions can be found in Figure 5.3.

What's your opinion of the present computer system?
How do you view the goals of this department?
How does this form relate to the work you do?
What are some of the problems you experience in receiving information on time?
What are some of the common errors made in data entry in this department?
Describe the most frustrating computer system you've worked with.

FIGURE 5.3 Open-ended interview questions allow the respondent open options for responding (examples are from different interviews).

The benefits of using open-ended questions are numerous and include:

  1. Putting the interviewee at ease
  2. Allowing the interviewer to pick up on the interviewee's vocabulary, which reflects his or her education, values, attitudes, and beliefs
  3. Providing richness of detail
  4. Revealing avenues of further questioning that may have gone untapped
  5. Making it more interesting for the interviewee
  6. Allowing more spontaneity
  7. Making phrasing easier for the interviewer
  8. Using them in a pinch if the interviewer is caught unprepared

As you can see, there are several advantages to using open-ended questions. However, the flip side is that there are many drawbacks, which include:

  1. Asking questions that may result in too much irrelevant detail
  2. Possibly losing control of the interview
  3. Allowing responses that may take too much time for the amount of useful information gained
  4. Potentially seeming that the interviewer is unprepared
  5. Possibly giving the impression that the interviewer is on a "fishing expedition" with no real objective for the interview

You must consider carefully the implications of using open-ended questions for interviewing.

CLOSED QUESTIONS.

The alternative to open-ended questions is found in the other basic question type: closed questions that are of the basic form, "How many subordinates do you have?" The possible responses are closed to the interviewees, since they can only reply with a finite number such as "None," "One," or "Fifteen." Some examples of closed questions can be found in Figure 5.4.

A closed question limits the response available to the interviewee.

1. How many reports do you generate in a month?
2. How long have you worked for Bakerloo Brothers?
3. Which of the following sources of information is most valuable to you:
Filled-out customer complaint forms
Face-to-face interaction with customers
Returned merchandise itself
List your top two priorities for the marketing department in 1986.
4. Who receives this output?

FIGURE 5.4 Closed interview questions limit the options the respondent has for responding.

The examples were selected from different interviews and are not shown in any particular order.

You may be familiar with closed questions through multiple-choice exams in college. You are given a question and five responses, but you are not allowed to write down your own response and still be counted as correctly answering the question. A special kind of closed question is the bipolar question. This limits the interviewee even further by only allowing a choice on either pole such as yes or no, true or false, agree or disagree. Examples of bipolar questions can be found in Figure 5.5.

The benefits of using closed questions of either type include:

  1. Saving time
  2. Easily comparing interviews
  3. Getting to the point
  4. Keeping control over the interview
  5. Covering lots of ground quickly
  6. Getting to relevant data

FIGURE 5.5 Bipolar interview questions are a special kind of closed questions. The examples were selected from different interviews and are not shown in any particular order.

  1. Do you use a microcomputer?
  2. Do you agree or disagree that automating teller functions would be worthwhile?
  3. Do you want to receive a computer printout of your account status every month?
  4. Does your accounting department offer automatic electronic funds transfer of payroll checks for hourly employees?
  5. Is this form complete?

The drawbacks of using closed questions are substantial however.

They include:

  1. Being boring for the interviewee
  2. Failing to obtain rich detail (due to the interviewer supplying the frame of reference for the interviewee)
  3. Missing main ideas because of the above, and
  4. Failing to build rapport between interviewer and interviewee

So as the interviewer, you must think carefully about the question types you will use.

Both open-ended and closed questions have advantages and drawbacks as shown in Figure 5.6.

Open-ended / Closed
Low / Reliability of Data / High
Low / Efficient use of time / High
Low / Precision of Data / High
Much / Breath and Depth / Little
Much / Interviewing Skills Required / Little
Difficult / Ease of Analysis / Easy

Figure 5.6 Attributes of open-ended and closed questions

Notice that choosing one question type over the other actually involves a tradeoff; while an open-ended question affords breadth and depth of reply, responses to open-ended questions are difficult to analyze.

PROBES.

A third type of question is the "probe" or "follow-up." The strongest probe is the simplest, the question "Why?" Others are, "Can you give me an example?" and "Will you elaborate on that for me?" Some examples of probing questions can be found in Figure 5.7. The purpose of the probe is to go beyond the initial answer to get more meaning, to clarify, to draw out and expand on the interviewee's point. Probes may be either open-ended or closed questions.

It is essential to probe. Most beginning interviewers are reticent about probing and consequently accept superficial answers. They usually are grateful that employees have granted interviews and feel somewhat obligated to accept unqualified statements politely,

If done in a systematic and determined manner, your probing will be acknowledged as a sign that you are listening to what's being said, thinking it through, and responding appropriately. This can only help the situation. Rather than using a tough "investigative-reporter" type of approach, you should probe in a way that exhibits your thoroughness and desire to comprehend the interviewee's responses.

QuestionPitfalls

By wording your questions beforehand, you are able to correct any poor questions that you have written. Watch for troublesome question types that can ruin your data. They are called leading questions and double-barreled questions.

  1. Why?
  2. Give an example of your decision-making process.
  3. Please provide an illustration of the performance measures you mentioned earlier.
  4. What you said just now about using your IBM PC seems to conflict with your earlier opinions that managerial work can't be automated. Please clarify what you meant by each statement.
  5. What makes you feel that way?
  6. Tell me what happens, step-by-step, to the form the patient fills out.

FIGURE 5.7 Probes allow the systems analyst to follow up questions to get more detailed responses. The examples were selected from different interviews and are not shown in any particular order.

AVOIDING LEADING QUESIIONS.

Leading questions tend to lead the interviewee into a response that you seem to want. The response is then biased since you are setting up a kind of trap. An example would be, "You agree with other managers that inventory control should be computerized, don't you?" You have made it very uncomfortable to disagree. An alternative, preferred phrasing could be, "What do you think of computerizing inventory control?" Your data will be more reliable and more valid, hence easier to understand and more useful.

AVOIDING DOUBLE-BARRELED QUESTIONS.

Double-barreled questions are those that use only one question mark for what are actually two separate questions. A question such as "What decisions are made during a typical day and how do you make them?" is an example of a double-barreled question. If your interviewee responds to this type of question, your data may suffer.

A double-barreled question is a poor choice because interviewees may answer only one question (purposely or not), or you may mistake which question they are answering and draw the wrong conclusion. If you are lucky enough to discover your error, it still means orally retracing steps and straightening out the misunderstanding, which takes extra time. Most of this can be avoided by phrasing questions beforehand.

Arranging Questions in a Logical Sequence

Just as there are two generally recognized ways of reasoning, inductive and deductive, there are two similar ways of organizing your interviews. A third way combines both inductive and deductive patterns.

USING A PYRAMID STRUCTURE. Inductive organization of interview questions can be visualized as having a pyramid shape. Using this form, the interviewer begins with very detailed, often closed, questions. The interviewer then expands the topics by allowing open-ended questions and more generalized responses, as shown in Figure 5.8.

Pyramid structures start with a specific question

What exactly is the problem in your forecasting model?

Have you considered obtaining more up to date information?

In general, how do you feel about forecasting?

and ends with a general one.

Figure 5.8 Pyramid structure for interviewing goes form specific to general questions

A pyramid structure should be used if you believe your interviewee needs to warm up to the topic. It is also useful if the interviewee seems reluctant to address the topic. For example, if you are interviewing someone who has told you over the phone that he or she does not need to talk with you because he or she already knows what is wrong with the forecasting model, you should probably structure the interview as a pyramid.

Utilizing a pyramid structure for question sequencing is also useful when you want an ending determination about the topic. Such is the case in the final question, "In general, how do you feel about forecasting?"

USING A FUNNEL STRUCTURE.

In the second kind of structure, the interviewer takes a deductive approach by beginning with generalized, open ended questions and narrowing the possible responses by using closed questions. This interview structure can be thought of as funnel-shaped, as depicted in Figure 5.9.

Funnel structures begin with a general question

What are your reactions to the new computer system?

What computers do you use?

What is the cost of the new computer system?

Is the new computer system worth the cost?

and end with a specific one.

Figure 5.9 Funnel structure for interviewing begins with broad questions, then funnels to specific questions

Using funnel structure provides an easy, non-threatening way to begin an interview. Respondents will not feel pressured that they are giving a "wrong" response to an open-ended question. A funnel-shaped question sequence is also useful when the interviewee feels emotional about the topic and needs freedom to express those emotions. A benefit of using a funnel structure is that organizing the interview in that manner may elicit so much detailed information that long sequences of closed questions and probes are unnecessary.