Unit - III: Interviewing

1) Objectives of interview,

2) Interviewing techniques,

3) Types of interviews,

4) Characteristics of structured and unstructured interview,

5) Interviewing skills (micro skills),

6) Open-ended questions,

7) Clarification,

8) Reflection,

9) Facilitation and confrontation,

10) Silences in interviews,

11) Verbal and non-verbal components.

An Interview is a meaningful exchange of information with a definite purpose. It is a

conversation to specific information eliciting activity. In an interview, much of the interaction
between interviewer and interviewee (client) is carried on by gestures, postures, facial
expressions, and other communicative behaviour the verbal information collected from the
client.

Among the various methods of psychological testing, ‘interview’ is one of the important means
of collecting information. This is an independent tool in it itself. It is an age old and time-tested
method of collecting information from the client with direct observation of the individual’s
behaviour and other behaviour manifestations. Interviews may vary from the highly structured
interview (based on perfect questionnaire), through gathered or guided interviews covering
certain predetermined areas, to non-directive and depth interviews in which the interviewer
merely sets the stage and encourages the client to talk as freely as possible.

Interviews have two advantages over any other questionnaire method of collecting information.
One, they give an opportunity for direct observation of behaviour manifested during the
interview situation. Second, it is one of the good methods to elicit life history data, where the
interviewer gets an opportunity to understand client’s past and the concomitant circumstances
and the client’s comments regarding the action.

Aim of Interview- There can be three main aims of interview. They are:

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 1) to collect information from people
2) to give information to them
3) to influence their behaviour in certain ways for example in psychotherapeutic
interviewing.

Objectives of interview

1. Identifying, evaluating, and exploring the client’s chief complaint and associated therapy
goals.

2. Obtaining data related to the client’s interpersonal style, interpersonal skills, and personal
history.

3. Evaluating the client’s current life situation and functioning.

Interviewing techniques

These are methods one adopts to collect vital information about the client. Information which
has bearing on client’s identification of problem and further intervention. While interviewing
a client, we use simultaneously various techniques of interviewing in one situation. We may
be asking a question about client’s marital history and simultaneous observing his facial
expressions, hand movement, posture and the body tension.

Commonly used techniques are questioning, observing, listening, restating, validating,

reflecting, providing information, clarifying, paraphrasing, pinpointing, linking, structuring,
focusing, sharing and summarizing.

Observing- Observing is reading non-verbal clues, which speak more than words. Interviewer
observes the facial expression, posture, hand movement, perspiration, nail biting, tone of voice,
restless movement, frequently changing posture etc. These clues give an idea about patient’s
present state of mood, reaction to the topic being discussed, anxiety level etc.

Listening- Listening is one of the important techniques of interviewing. It is very important to

listen attentively. Willingness to listen and being well understood by the listener encourages
the speaker to speak freely and express unhesitatingly. Looking towards the client, nodding in
between, and making ‘hmmm’ sound gives a positive signal to client and encourages him to
speak.

Validating- Validating is to confirm the accuracy of information given by the patient. This is
usually done by asking further questions on the same issue and evaluating the answers in terms
of their consistency and appropriateness. For example:
Client: I feel scared to go out at night.
Interviewer: I understand that you feel scared to go out at night. Can you give example and
explain how?

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Restating, clarifying, paraphrasing, and reflecting are some more techniques used frequently
in interviewing, where the interviewer restates or repeats the client’s statements, to make the
client aware of what he has said. This also helps in further clarifying and understanding the
meaning associated feeling with the statement. By restating the interviewer can highlight the
effective content of the client’s communication. While clarifying the interviewer formulates
the client’s statement or feelings in clearer terms without approving or disapproving the
content. Paraphrasing helps the clients understand that the interviewer has understood what
the client wanted him to understand.

Pinpointing- In this technique, the therapist seeks to clarify or ‘pin down’ the client’s specific
meaning regarding some event or interaction. This is important because people come to therapy
with different systems of meaning and points of reference. So, for example, if the client says
“I came back home late from the bar last night and my wife went crazy on me,” pinpointing
would sound something like: “What do you mean by ‘went crazy'? What did she actually do?”

Linking, focusing, sharing, and providing information are few more techniques used in
interviewing. In linking interviewer tries to link the client’s two events, feeling and persons
together. Whereas, focusing is working on one single direction to get the maximum possible
information on a particular issue. Sharing a feeling of concern and conveying it to client is a
way to communicate that you care. Providing useful information regarding personal, social,
therapeutic issues helps improving client’s awareness about himself and surrounding and
thereby utilizing this information for his benefit. This also expresses interviewer/therapist
concern about client.

Summarizing is another technique where the interviewer summarizes the issues discussed and
conclusion arrived, if any.

These are few techniques, an interviewer applies while interviewing a client. These techniques
are used in combination and are selected based on type and aim of the interview.

Types of interview

Interviews are classified in different categories depending upon the procedure employed. Here
we will study four important types of interview i.e., structured, unstructured, semi structured
and intake interview.

Structured Interviews- As the name implies the structured interviews are the ones in which
interviewer asks a pre-planned set of questions in the same manner and sequence for each
client. This method is used when same information is required from all interviewees or for
getting information from the same client on other occasions. The questions that are asked are
structured and standardised. These are objective questions, irrespective of the fact who is being
interviewed. These are followed by everyone. The sequence of the questions is also important.
And to conduct this type of interview, it is necessary that the interviewer is properly trained in
this skill. There are clear cut guidelines given how and in what sequence the questions should
be asked. The interview is quite structured here and requires the interviewer to follow a very

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clear guideline relating to particular disorder. Each disorder has different criterion and
accordingly the questions are formed. To conduct such clinical interviews, the person
concerned should get formal training in the clinical set up. Otherwise the data collected by this
method is not taken as valid.

Information collected by this method can be organised easily, and comparison between
responses is possible, because the interview questions are in written format and clearly
structured. One important advantage of structured interview

is that certain words which might otherwise be used can be avoided as it may cause problems
during interview. Because it is so structured that it is considered more reliable and valid. A
major limitation of this method is that it relies exclusively on respondents.

Unstructured interviews- Unstructured interview is opposite to structured interview. The

interviewer may have an idea about possible questions but depending upon the needs of the
client, the order and sequence of questions can be changed, modified etc. by the interviewer.
Certain questions which may not be very relevant or wrongly worded can be modified by the
counselor. During the interview if the counselor finds that certain questions need to be added
or deleted the counselor may do so.

Thus questions are asked as per the flow of communication. Due to this freedom in asking
questions more spontaneous responses are given by the client. The major advantage of this
method is flexibility. Example of this type is the interview that is conducted by the media on
the opinion of the common man on certain issues. They address the issues that are important to
the common man but that does not assure that the information that is gathered is always valid.
They may just hide the information that does not fit to their belief system. However,
unstructured interviews are less reliable and more prone to error than structured interviews.

Semi-Structured Interview- Many times semi structured method is used to minimize the
disadvantages of both methods. It is a combination of structured and unstructured method.
Certain questions are always asked, but there is freedom to add questions.

Intake Interview- The initial interview is the first meeting in which interviewer works with
client to gather information about the problem with which the client has approached the
counselor. This interview includes presenting problem, general life situation, history and
interpersonal functioning. Some time it is called as history interview.

Characteristics of structured and unstructured interview

Structured Interview-

1. Structured interviews are easy to replicate as a fixed set of closed questions are used, which
are easy to quantify – this means it is easy to test for reliability.

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2. Structured interviews are fairly quick to conduct which means that many interviews can take
place within a short amount of time. This means a large sample can be obtained resulting in the
findings being representative and having the ability to be generalized to a large population.

Unstructured Interview-

1. Unstructured interviews are more flexible as questions can be adapted and changed
depending on the respondents’ answers. The interview can deviate from the interview schedule.

2. Unstructured interviews generate qualitative data through the use of open questions. This
allows the respondent to talk in some depth, choosing their own words. This helps the
researcher develop a real sense of a person’s understanding of a situation.

3. They also have increased validity because it gives the interviewer the opportunity to probe
for a deeper understanding, ask for clarification & allow the interviewee to steer the direction
of the interview etc.

Interviewing skills (micro skills)

Counselling Microskills are specific skills a counsellor can use to enhance their communication
with clients. These skills enable a counsellor to effectively build a working alliance and engage
clients in discussion that is both helpful and meaningful.

Microskill 1: Attending behaviour- Attending is the behavioural aspect of building rapport.

When a counsellor first meets with a client, they must indicate to the client that they are
interested in listening to them and helping them. Through attending, the counsellor is able to
encourage the client to talk and open up about their issues.

Eye contact is important and polite (in Western society) when speaking or listening to another
person. This does not mean that the counsellor stares at the client, but maintains normal eye
contact to show genuine interest in what the client is saying.

Microskill 2: Questioning- Questions during the counselling session can help to open up new
areas for discussion. They can assist to pinpoint an issue and they can assist to clarify
information that at first may seem ambiguous to the counsellor. Questions that invite clients to
think or recall information can aid in a client’s journey of self-exploration.

In determining effective questioning techniques it is important to consider the nature of the

client, their ongoing relationship with the counsellor and the issue/s at hand. There are two
main types of questions used in counselling: (1) Open and (2) Closed.

Open questions: Open questions are those that cannot be answered in a few words, they
encourage the client to speak and offer an opportunity for the counsellor to gather information
about the client and their concerns.
Typically open questions begin with: what, why, how or could. For example:
What has brought you here today?

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Why do you think that?
How did you come to consider this?
Could you tell me what brings you here today?

Closed questions: Closed questions are questions that can be answered with a minimal response
(often as little as “yes” or “no”). They can help the counsellor to focus the client or gain very
specific information. Such questions begin with: is, are or do. For example:
Is that your coat?
Are you living alone?
Do you enjoy your job?

While questioning techniques can be used positively to draw out and clarify issues relevant to
the counselling session, there is also the very real danger of over-using questions or using
questioning techniques that can have a negative impact on the session.

The wrong types of questioning techniques, at the wrong time, in the hands of an unskilled
interviewer or counsellor, can cause unnecessary discomfort and confusion to the client.

Microskill 3: Confrontation- Generally speaking the term confrontation means challenging

another person over a discrepancy or disagreement. However, confrontation as a counselling
skill is an attempt by the counsellor to gently bring about awareness in the client of something
that they may have overlooked or avoided.

There are three steps to confrontation in counselling. The first step involves the identification
of mixed or incongruent messages (expressed through the client’s words or non-verbals). The
second step requires the counsellor to bring about awareness of these incongruities and assist
the client to work through these. Finally, step three involves evaluating the effectiveness of the
intervention evidenced by the client’s change and growth.

During the counselling process there are four (4) discrepancies which the client could display.
The discrepancy can be between:

1. Thoughts and feelings

2. Thoughts and actions
3. Feelings and actions or
4. A combination of thoughts, feelings and actions.

Having identified a discrepancy, the counsellor highlights this to the client, using a
confrontation statement such as:

“On the one hand …, but on the other hand….”

This is a standard and useful format for the actual confrontation. Of course, you may also use
variations such as:

“You say … but you do …,” or

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“Your words say … but your actions say ….”

Eg: “Your words say you would like to spend more time with your sister, but your actions say
that it’s not a priority for you.”

Microskill 4: Focusing- Ivey and Ivey (2003) have identified seven areas a counsellor can
focus on in the counselling session to bring about broader perspectives and potential solutions.

The first is Individual focus, where the counsellor begins the counselling session by focusing
totally on the personal aspects of the client; the demographics, history, and the reasons why
counselling is sought, from the client. The counsellor will often use the client’s name, to help
bring about total focus on that client. For example, “Joan, tell me a little about yourself”. “Joan,
are you the oldest daughter in the family?”

The second is: Main theme or problems focus. Attention is given to the reason why the client
sought counselling. Other focus, as no problem is truly isolated, the client will often speak of
friends’, colleagues, extended family members and other individuals that are somehow
connected with the reason for the client seeking counselling.

Family focus, concerns siblings, parents, children. Flexibility is required in the definition of
“Family”, as it can have different meanings to different people, i.e. traditional, single parent,
nuclear and/or can include extended family members, or very close friends who are given
family titles such as Aunt or Uncle.

Mutuality focus is concerned with how the client reacts to the counsellor, because this could be
an indication of how the client develops in relation to other people. It attempts to put the
counsellor and client on an equal level, with the counsellor asking: “How can we work
together?” “How would you like me to help with this situation at this point?”

Interviewer focus is where the counsellor may disclose information about themselves. Finally,
Cultural/environmental/context focus. The counsellor will understand how a client is
influenced by the community, in which they grew up, but this can be extended to other issues
such as gender, race, ethnicity, religion, socio-economic status to gain a greater understanding
of the person the client is today.

Microskill 5: Reflection of Meaning- Reflection of meaning refers to the deeply held thoughts
and meanings underlying life experiences. For the counsellor who uses reflection of meaning
in their work, they will find that clients will search more deeply into the aspects of their own
life experiences.

For example, imagine two individuals who take a holiday on an island resort: the same island,
the same resort, the same time of year. One of them passionately expresses the wonders of the
sunsets, walks along the beach and leisurely life style. While the other complains about the
heat, sunburn and boredom they experienced.

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This example illustrates how the same event can have a totally different meaning to the
different individuals experiencing the event. Hence, the skill of reflection of meaning is to
assist clients to explore their values and goals in life, by understanding the deeper aspects of
their experiences.

[ [Link] ]

Open-ended questions

Open-ended questions are free-form survey questions that allow respondents to answer in
open text format so that they can answer based on their complete knowledge, feeling, and
understanding. It means that the response to this question is not limited to a set of options.

Open questions are those that cannot be answered in a few words, they encourage the client to
speak and offer an opportunity for the counsellor to gather information about the client and
their concerns.

Typically open questions begin with: what, why, how or could. For example:
o What has brought you here today?
o Why do you think that?
o How did you come to consider this?
o Could you tell me what brings you here today?

“How” questions tend to invite the client to talk about their feelings. “What” questions more
often lead to the emergence of facts. “When” questions bring about information regarding
timing of the problem, and this can include events and information preceding or following the
event.
How? Most often enables talk about feelings and/or process.
What? Most often lead to facts and information.
When? Most often brings out the timing of the problem, including what preceded and followed
it.
Where? Most often enables discussion about the environment and situations.
Why? Most often brings out reasons.

“Where” questions reveal the environment, situation or place that the event took place, and
“Why” questions usually give the counsellor information regarding the reasons of the event or
information leading up to the event.

It should be noted that care must be taken by the counsellor when asking “why” questions.
Why question can provoke feelings of defensiveness in clients and may encourage clients to
feels as though they need to justify themselves in some way.

Clarification

Clarification- Several forms of clarification serve a common purpose: to make clear for
yourself and the client the precise nature of what has been said. The first form of clarification

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consists of a restatement of what the client said and a closed question, in either order. Rogers
was a master at clarification:

If I ’ m getting it right . . . what makes it hurt most of all is that when he tells you you ’ re no
good, well shucks, that ’ s what you ’ ve always felt about yourself. Is that the meaning of what
you ’ re saying? (Meador & Rogers, 1984, p. 167)

The second form of clarifi cation consists of a restatement imbedded in a double question. A
double question is an either/or question including two or more choices of response for the
client. For example:
“ Do you dislike being called on in class — or is it something else? ”
“ Did you get in the argument with your husband before or after you went to the movie? ”

Using clarifi cation as a double question allows interviewers to take more control of what
clients say during an interview. In a sense, interviewers try to guess a client ’ s potential
response by providing possible choices, similar to the multiple - choice test format.

The third form of clarification is the most basic. It’s used when you don’t quite hear what a
client said and you need to recheck.
“ I’m sorry, I didn’t quite hear that. Could you repeat what you said? ”
“ I couldn ’ t make out what you said. Did you say you’d be going home after the session? ”

There will be times during interviews when you do not understand what your client is saying.
There also will be times when your client is not sure what he or she is saying or why he/she is
saying it. Sometimes, the appropriate response is to wait for understanding to come. However,
other times, it is necessary to clarify precisely what your client is talking about. There are also
times when your client will need to clarify something you ’ ve said.

Brammer (1979) provides two general guidelines for clarifying. First, admit your confusion
over what the client has said. Second, “ try a restatement or ask for clarifi cation, repetition, or
illustration ” (p. 73). Asking for a specific example can be especially useful because it
encourages clients to be concrete and specific rather than abstract and vague.

From the interviewer’s perspective, there are two main factors to consider when deciding
whether to use clarifi cation. First, if the information appears trivial and unrelated to central
therapeutic issues, it may be best to simply wait for the client to move on to a more productive
area. It can be a waste of time to clarify minor details that are only remotely related to interview
goals. For example, suppose a client says, “ My stepdaughter’s grandfather on my wife ’ s side
of the family usually has little or no contact with my parents. ” This presents an excellent
opportunity for the interviewer to listen quietly. To attempt a clarifi cation response might
result in a lengthy entanglement with distant family relationships that takes the interview off
course. In fact, on some occasions, the client might engage in long confusing accounts in order
to avoid emotion - laden topics. A clarification response might simply prolong or even endorse
the avoidance.

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Second, if the information clients discuss seems important but is not being articulated clearly,
you have two choices: Wait briefl y to see if they can independently express themselves more
clearly, or immediately use a clarifi cation. For example, a client may state:

I don’t know, she was different. She looked at me differently than other women. Others were
missing . . . something, you know, the eyes. Usually you can tell by the way a woman looks at
you, can ’ t you? Then again, maybe it was something else, something about me that I ’ ll
understand someday.

An appropriate interviewer clarification might be: “ She seemed different; it may have been
how she looked at you or something about yourself you don ’ t totally understand. Is that what
you ’ re saying? ”

Reflection
[Link]

SLIDE 26

reflecting is used to bring out underlying feelings.

When it’s used: Noting and reflecting can assist in adding the emotional dimension to the
client’s story, so is often used in the interview stages of gathering information and exploring
alternatives. Another great skill to teach clients in the process.

Examples: “You feel disappointed because your mother didn’t call you on your birthday.”

By using the patient’s words, the interviewer indicates that he/she has heard what the patient
is saying and conveys the implicit message that he/she is interested in hearing more

Facilitation and confrontation

Facilitation-

To obtain accurate, unbiased information, exert only as much control over the interview as is
needed. The physician's task is to keep the patient talking about the illness in a productive
fashion. Facilitation techniques are employed to encourage and guide the patient's
spontaneous report. These include the use of posture, gesture, and words to indicate that the
interviewer is interested in what the patient is saying. These techniques reassure the patient
that he or she should go on speaking and provide time for the patient to think and respond. A
shared silence often helps the flow of the interview if the interviewer maintains eye contact
and an interested manner. It is not necessary to come up with a question each moment the
patient falls silent. Silences often help the patient reexperience emotions and provide the time
needed for reflection. Most interviewers can judge if a patient is actively thinking during the
silence or needs help getting started again. Prompt the patient to continue with a spontaneous
report by repeating the patient's last phrase in a questioning tone such as "… you felt short of
breath?" Or, make an observational statement such as, "You stopped talking a few moments

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ago after telling me about your weight loss … can you tell me what you are thinking about?"
Occasional nods of the head, following the patient's response with "Yes?" or "and then?" or
"huh, huh?" in a questioning tone may keep the patient talking.

Confrontation- The goal of confrontation is to help clients perceive themselves and reality
more clearly. Clients often have a distorted view of others, the world, and themselves. These
distortions usually manifest themselves as incongruities or discrepancies. For example,
imagine a client with clenched fists and a harsh, angry voice saying, “ I wish you wouldn’t
bring up my ex-wife. I’ve told you before, that’s over! I don’t have any feelings toward her.
It’s all just water under the bridge. ” Obviously, this client still has strong feelings about his
ex-wife.

Perhaps the relationship is over and the client wishes he could put it behind him, but his
nonverbal behavior — voice tone, body posture, and facial expression — tells the interviewer
that he’s still emotionally involved with his ex-wife. Confrontation works best when you have
a working relationship with the client and ample evidence to demonstrate the client’s emotional
or behavioral incongruity or discrepancy. In the preceding example, we wouldn’t recommend
using confrontation unless there was additional evidence indicating the client’s unresolved
feelings about his ex-wife. If there was supporting evidence, the following confrontation might
be appropriate:

You mentioned last week that every time you think of your ex-wife and how the relationship
ended, you want revenge. And yet today, you’re saying you don’t have any feelings about her.
But judging by your clenched fists, voice tone, and what you said last week about her ‘screwing
you over, ’ it seems like you still have very strong feelings about her. Perhaps you wish those
feelings would go away, but it sure looks like they ’ re still there.

Notice how the interviewer cites evidence to support the confrontation. In this case, the
interviewer has decided that the client would be better off admitting to and dealing with his
unresolved feelings toward his ex - wife. Therefore, he uses confrontation to help the client see
the issue. To increase the likelihood that the client will admit to the discrepancy between his
nonverbal behavior and his internal emotions, the confrontation was stated gently and
supported by evidence.

Confrontations can range from being very gentle to harsh and aggressive. For example, take
the case of a young, newly married man who, 35 minutes into his psychotherapy session, has
not yet mentioned his wife (despite the fact that she left two days earlier to return to school
about 2,000 miles away). The young man, while discussing a general rise in his anger and
frustration, was mildly confronted by his therapist, who observed, “ I noticed you haven’t
mentioned anything about your wife leaving. ”

In this case, the therapist is using a reflection of content (or lack of content) to gently confront
the fact that the client was neglecting to discuss his wife and the relevance of her departure on
his mood. The therapist ’ s goal is to get his client to recognize and acknowledge that he was
ignoring a possible connection between his negative mood and his wife’s recent departure.

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 Silences in interviews

[Link]

Silence in counselling allows the client to speak about their issues without interruption.

Silence also enables the client space to process their thoughts and feelings without
distraction.

This helps them gain clarity on the difficulties they face and consider a possible way forward.

Silences occur for a number of reasons:

For the counsellor it can be:

 A deliberate use of silence to encourage the client’s self-exploration

 A deliberate use of silence to encourage the client to “carry the burden” of
the conversation
 An organisational use of silence enabling the counsellor to collect her/his
own thoughts
 A natural ending to a phase of discussion
For the client it can be:

 A time to make connections, to wait for words or images to occur

 A space in which feelings can be nurtured and allowed to develop
 A space in which the client is able to recover from “here and now”
emotions
 An attempt to elicit a response from the counsellor, such as satisfying a
need for approval or advice
 An organisational use of silence enabling the client to collect her/his own
thoughts, remember events, assess values and reflect on feelings

Verbal and non-verbal components

Nonverbal communication refers to transmitting information without using words or

language. Examples of nonverbal communication include facial expressions, body posture, eye
contact, how close we stand next to each other, and touch. Emotions and attitudes are primarily
conveyed using nonverbal communication. It's estimated that between 60 and 65 percent of
what we communicate is done so using nonverbal communication.
Verbal communication refers to transmitting information using words or sounds. For
example, when Susan said that she is not happy, she used verbal communication. Verbal
communication is primarily used to show our thoughts and describe how we feel.
There are several verbal skills that a counsellor can use in a counselling session that can
improve communication and contribute to improved outcomes for the client:

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Questioning is a verbal communication skill that can be used to gather more detailed
information and get the clients to explore issues that led them to come to therapy. For
example, asking Mike, 'Why do you agree to come to counselling if you don't think there is a
problem?' could get Mike to explain his view of the marriage in more detail and his feelings
about counselling in general. It could also provide the counsellor with an area to begin the
discussion.
Confrontation is a verbal communication skill that involves challenging or 'confronting' the
client over what the counsellor perceives as a discrepancy. For example, the counsellor could
say to Susan, 'You say that you have completely given up on the marriage, yet you are here in
counselling with Mike hoping that you can work things out.'
Focusing is when the counsellor guides the conversation toward a particular area that the
counsellor feels is important. For example, after Susan speaks about how unhappy she is in
her marriage, the counsellor may decide to focus on a time when Susan was happy to see if
she can help Susan pinpoint the cause of her marital dissatisfaction.
Paraphrasing is when the counsellor repeats what the client told them using different words.
Paraphrasing allows the counsellor to check for understanding; it also lets the client feel like
they are being heard.

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