ements of those roles in the interview process.
The interviewer must be able to stimulate the interviewee to answer. The preferred process to accomplish this end is called probing, and includes the following actions on the part of the interviewer (Emory, 1993):
1. A brief assertion of understanding and interest at the beginning of the interview must be made.
3. The interviewee's replies should be repeated.
Interviewer bias can threaten the validity of interview findings ("Personal Bias," 1992). The guard against interviewer bias, the recording of responses interviewee should occur as the responses are made (Emory, 1993). If time is critical, the interviewer should use some sort of shorthand during the initial recording of the responses, and write complete responses at a later time. If recording errors are made, the result is a response error·discrepancies between recorded and actual responses. The respondent's own words should be recorded. Responses should never be summarized or paraphrased. Further, all probing actions on the part of the interviewer should be recorded.
Interviews may be unstructured, semistructured, or structured (Isaac & Michael, 1991). The unstructured approach provides the respondent with great freedom in expression; however, this approach is the most vulnerable to subjective bias on the part of both the interviewer and the interviewee. The unstructured interview is most frequently used in situations where the information sought is either highly personal or potentially threatening to the respondent (Isaac & Michael, 1991).
Semistructured interviews are built around a core of structured questions (Isaac & Michael, 1991). From this core, the interviewer may branch out to explore one or more points in greater depth. Semistructured interviews demand greater training of the interviewer than is required with structured interviews.
Structured interviews follow a well-defined format (Isaac...