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Unit-14: Interview

Qualities of a good interviewer notes

success of interview is much dependent on the interviewer and taking the interview in comparison
to science is more an art, as P.V. Young has written, “that is why interview is mostly an art and not
a science”. successful operation of interview is much dependent on the capability and tactfulness
of the interviewer. sometimes informants are clever and tricky and sometimes they are half-witted,
coward, ones who exaggerate their talks, liars and those who hide facts. interviewer has to contact
all of these and collect information from them, hence it is they who need to have many attributes. A
good interviewer should have the following qualities:
(i) Personality of interviewer should be pleasant, influential and attractive.
(ii) He should have patience and endurance.
(iii) He should have the capacity to keep self-control
(iv) He should be a tactful, polite and clever person.
(v) He should have the qualities of eloquence and quick-wittedness.
(vi) He should have mental loyalty and neutrality.
(vii) interviewer should be intelligent.
(viii) He should have the capability to quickly take decisions
(ix) He should have the quality of adapting according to the time and situation.

Merits of Interview Method

interview is one such method through which oral information related to study subject can be obtained.
in interview person gets the opportunity for observation also. through it many qualitative and primary
facts can be compiled. explaining its importance Goode and Hatt have written “interview in modern
research has become important for re-evaluation of qualitative interview”.
We can express the importance or merits of interview under various heads in the following
manner:
1. Psychological Importance: interview is that method through which psychological study of a person
is possible. in interview, study of a person’s emotions, feelings, beliefs, desires, aspirations, thoughts
etc is easily possible. on the basis of facial expressions given by the informant during an interview etc,
study of informant’s psychological behaviour and mental state can be done. Many mental aspects of
informant are revealed during the conversation. in this way through interview, study of psychological
facts affecting human behaviour can easily be done.
2. securing information from persons of all levels: through interview, information may be collected
from literate or illiterate and all kinds of people related to various cultures because interviewer can
explain the question by understanding their mental level and may obtain the desired answer.
3. study of past events: through interview, past events and their impacts can be studied because
some events are such that they cannot be repeated. to know about them we have to interview those
people who have seen that event, have been related to it or have been affected by it. for. e.g. what
hardships india had to go through to obtain independence, we can know it by interviewing people
who have been related to the war of independence.
4. Study of Abstract Phenomena: through interview we can study abstract and invisible phenomena.
study of person’s mental state, thoughts, feelings, beliefs, emotions etc. can easily be done through
interview. All these abstract facts affect human behaviour, hence, their study is important from the
point of view of research.

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