Conducting Interviews

DOE-EM-STD-5505-96

place the burden of conversation on the assessor in that the assessor spends much more time

thinking of and stating the question than it takes the interviewee to answer it. The advantages of

closed-ended questions are that they allow the interviewer to obtain specific information about a

topic of interest, are less time-consuming to answer, and are easier to record. Assessors should

avoid using only closed-ended questions as they can elicit insufficient information, and require a

lot of follow-up.

The proper combination of open-ended and closed-ended questions will provide the most efficient

use of time for both the assessor and the activity. To prevent the interviewee from digressing

from the topic of interest, the assessor must direct the interview.

The assessor's use of leading questions should be minimized. In a leading question, the assessor

gives the interviewee a partial answer and expects the interviewee to complete it, or the assessor

gives the complete answer and expects the interviewee to agree or disagree with it.

During the interview, the interviewer should continuously evaluate the information being

gathered, and ask follow up questions when necessary. This may lead to additional paths of

discussion that are necessary to clarify the topic. Before concluding the interview, the assessor

should attempt to summarize the information received from the interviewee. This will ensure that

the assessor has correctly interpreted and recorded the information provided during the interview.

After completion of an interview, the assessor should decipher, analyze, and evaluate the notes

taken and identify areas that require follow up. The assessor should decide whether follow-up

observations, document reviews, or interviews are required to clarify the information gathered

during the interview. An important point to remember is that the information gathered during an

interview, observation, or document review should be corroborated with other information. In

order to validate apparent deviations from requirements and identify programmatic breakdowns