Psychology Lecture 8- Interviews PDF

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Summary

A lecture on interviews, how to properly conduct an interview with an athlete client, the different types and the strengths and weaknesses. small reference to interview data and evidencing interviews....

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Applied Sport & Exercise Psychology- Lecture 8- Interviews An interview is a conversation where questions are asked, and answers are given. In sport psychology, this is to ascertain information about the client and their reasoning for seeking assistance, among many other reasons. Interviews are the most important element in a needs analysis (process of assessing clients needs through intervention). Interviewing should be used as a primary method of information with other assessment tools. They’re used to gain knowledge of the client and the nature of the presenting problems. The diagnoses of professionals is largely based on interview data.

Benefits of interviews Interviews:     

can be flexible and provide depth & quality of responses that would not be attainable from other methods. Allow observation of tone of reply, and body language of participant. Allow follow-up questions to unforeseen responses, gaining more information. Useful for gathering large amounts of data Particularly useful follow-up method

Important to make sure the interviewer is prepared- must have questions ready, even if only loose questions. What not to do in an interview      

Be distracted (eg phone, laptop etc) Take notes without paying attention & listening. Negative body language. Uninterested tone of voice. Offer too much of your opinion. Make the client feel uncomfortable.

Interview preparation Important to understand why an interview is being used- what topics are being discussed? This influences what questions will be asked. How can you justify these questions? Are the questions a result of other testing eg results on a questionnaire? It is also important to decide what type of questions will be asked. Both open & closed questions are more applicable to different situations. The type of interview will also be important to consider before conducting the interview- the three types are structured, unstructured & semi-structured. Fully structured interviews The questions of this interview are pre-determined and asked in a specific order- the interview schedule is fixed. The procedure is very similar to a self-completion questionnaire, with the exception that open questions can be used. This technique isn’t often used, as it may be deemed too rigid and not allow enough information to be gained.

Semi-structured interviews The questions of this interview type are mainly open ended. The schedule is very carefully picked and takes the form of topic headings related to key questions. Probes and prompts are used in the interview to guide the interviewer. This type allows follow-up questions to be asked while maintaining a direction. It also allows the participant to expand and elaborate on points they deem important. Probes are used to get the interviewee to expand on an answer given, examples of probes could be: you mentioned … can you expand on that? Other nonverbal tactics used can be periods of silence, neutral filters & repeating what was said. Unstructured Interviews Interviewees speak freely on a specific area of interest that the practitioner has deemed so. The interviewer does not have any questions ready to ask other then probes. This allows the interviewee to direct the session, introducing areas they deem important to discuss. Arguably best used at the start of the consultation if there are no explicit paths identified. However this type is very difficult for inexperienced interviewers to do effectively.

Interview evidence and data How do you evidence interviews? Prepared interview schedule & notes taken, recordings or transcripts can be used to refer to later. This can allow the interviewer to pay more attention to the client instead of taking notes, with the ability to re-listen later. Data from interviews can be displayed in table format or direct quotes for justification of evidence.

Strengths & Weaknesses of interviews The strengths of interviews are:   

Ability to gather a lot of in-depth information. Can follow interview guidelines. Flexibility allows the interview to be aligned with consulting philosophy of the interviewer.

The weaknesses of interviews are:   

A certain level of trust is needed before the client will be willing to share detailed information. If not obtained, the athlete may be uncomfortable & withhold answers. May need to know what to pick out and focus on, therefore previous experience may be needed to understand information being given. New practitioners have been shown to struggle with unstructured interviews and thinking of questions as the interview proceeds while actively listening to the client....