Comm307: Interviewing

Unit1: Introduction

Charles J. Stewart and William B. Cash, Jr. Interviewing Principles and Practices, 9th Edition. (Boston: McGraw Hill, 2000.) Chapter 1: "An Introduction to Interviewing," pp. 1-15.

Objectives:
  1. Define interviewing.
  2. Identify seven types of interviews.
  3. Describe when to use interviews.

Exam questions:

  1. Describe how an interview is an interactional process, involving two parties with a predetermined and serious purpose.
  2. Given examples of interviews, identify the types of interviews that they are.
  3. Given a particular need, determine whether it would be better to use an interview or some other way of giving or gathering information.

In-class exercise:

Analyze the interview on pages 13-14 by responding to the following questions:

  1. When are roles and responsibilities exchanged during the interview?
  2. What is the approximate ratio of listening and speaking, and how appropriate is it for this interview?
  3. What are the most obvious elements of this process?
  4. How many parties are involved in the interview?
  5. What is the predetermined purpose of the interview?
  6. What roles do questions play?
  7. What roles do questions play?
  8. How is this interaction fundamentally different from a speech, small group discussion, and conversation?

Out-of-class exercise.

Choose to either do the exercise "On the web" on page 11 or student activity #3 on page 15.