Value of interviews for admission to clinical training programs: Perspective of program directors

Abstract: The interview has a long history of being used to select individuals for positions in industry, professional occupations, and for a variety of specialised educational programs. Despite its widespread popularity, the selection interview is often criticised for its potential bias and unreliability, which in turn has led to its decreasing use in some settings. The purpose of the present study was to explore the views of the directors of 21 Australian clinical training programs as to the value of interviews as part of the admission process for their clinical psychology postgraduate training candidates. Three programs reported not conducting interviews at all, expressing reservations concerning their validity. Most other directors saw interviews as having at least some value, with the opportunity to evaluate interpersonal skills being one of the most commonly mentioned advantages. A variety of methods was used for the final admission decisions, with substantial variation in acceptance rates by candidates who survived the interview process. Implications for selection processes in the future are discussed.     

Men's grooming in the Latter-day Saints Church: A qualitative study of norm violation

The role of personal grooming as an indicator of commitment to church hierarchy is examined in a study of one congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Latter-day Saints Church policy urges men to be clean-shaven. In the present study, we interview all men in one ward who have worn beards or mustaches, in order to investigate questions of authority, identity, and conflict that occurred as a result of violating the grooming norm. Interviewees describe an identity conflict, with self-expression conflicting with the desire to demonstrate faithfulness to their church. In some cases, they reconcile the conflict by conforming to the norm; in others, they violate the norm out of a sense of asserting their own identity, but this comes at a cost of distance from their church identity.     

An interview to measure vital exhaustion. I. development and comparison with the maastricht questionnaire

Abstract

This article presents an interview designed to measure vital exhaustion (VE), a state characterized by unusual fatigue, increased irritability and feelings of demoralization, which has been found to be a short-term risk indicator of myocardial infarction (MI). This state can be measured by means of the Maastricht Questionnaire (MQ). However, the MQ was found to have some major shortcomings for the selection of subjects for laboratory or clinical investigations. For this reason we designed an interview to assess VE. To test the hypothesis that the interview registers prodromal feelings of MI, the interview was administered to a sample of 81 males who were hospitalized because of a first myocardial infarction (mean age 55.6 years; sd 6.8) and a sample of 168 healthy males (mean age 54.9 years; sd 6.9). Mean scores of cases and controls differed significantly (7.8; sd 6.0 and 3.6; sd 4.0, respectively; t=5.65; p=.000). Mean scores on the questionnaire discriminated significantly too, but the discriminating power was much lower (t=2.31; p=.02). The article gives detailed instructions on the way in which the interview should be administered and scored.     

Protecting and Enhancing Eyewitness Memory: The Impact of an Initial Recall Attempt on Performance in an Investigative Interview

Evidence‐gathering begins at the scene of an incident. Available witnesses may be asked to provide an account of what happened, either in response to an open request for information or, in some regions, by completing a Self‐Administered Interview (SAI©). In both cases, an investigative interview may be conducted at some later date. This study sought to determine the impact of an initial retrieval attempt on a subsequent interview. After exposure to a mock crime, participants completed an SAI© or a free recall (FR), or did not engage in an initial retrieval (Control). One week later, participants were interviewed with a Cognitive Interview. SAI© participants reported more correct information and maintained higher accuracy than FR and Control participants. Consistency analyses revealed that the SAI© was effective because it preserved more of the originally recalled items (Time 1) than did an initial FR, and not because it yielded new recollections at Time 2. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effect of Questioning Techniques and Interview Setting on Young Children's Eyewitness Memory

The goal of this research was to learn if supposed ineffective questioning techniques (e.g., question repetition within the interview) would reduce the accuracy of five-year-olds' eyewitness memory. In the first study, children viewed a slide show depicting a minor crime and were then interviewed either with a standard interview or one which incorporated ineffective questioning techniques. The results indicated that the type of interview did not affect children's eyewitness memory. In a second study, children were presented with the ineffective interview by an authoritative interviewer in a formal office setting. The results again indicated little influence of interview setting or question technique on children's eyewitness memory, identification accuracy, and suggestibility.     

THE EFFECT OF BODY LEAN AND STATUS OF AN INTERVIEWER ON THE NON-VERBAL BEHAVIOR OF JAPANESE INTERVIEWEES

This study was a preliminary investigation of non-verbal communication in Japanese subjects. Sixteen males and sixteen females were interviewed by one of two male confederates. The confederates were described and dressed as either high or equal status persons. They assumed either a forward lean or a backward lean during the four minute interview. Tape and video recordings were analyzed across a wide spectrum of non-verbal behaviors emitted by the subjects during the interview. Both status and body lean variables affected a variety of dependent measures, particularly for female subjects. A factor analysis of the non-verbal behaviors produced some unexpected results which have implications for similar studies done in other cultures.     

Interviewee coaching, preparation strategies, and response strategies in relation to performance in situational employment interviews: an extension of Maurer, Solamon, and Troxtel (1998)

Voluntary attendance at an interview coaching session was positively related to situational interview performance, controlling for job knowledge, motivation to do well, race, and sex of 213 candidates applying for promotion into several police and fire department jobs in a large city. Discrete preparation strategies (e.g., participation in study groups, participation in role-playing) were related to participation in coaching and also were related to interview performance beyond what could be accounted for by coaching participation, shedding some light on the potential efficacy of specific preparation strategies for enhancing success in situational interviews. Most notably, coaching attendance and preparation by interviewees were positively associated with a tendency to use strategies in the interview that enhanced the organization of interviewees' answers, and this organization was positively associated with performance in the interview.     

The relationships between child and forensic interviewer behaviours and individual differences in interviews about a medical examination

This study examined the interviewing process between professional forensic interviewers and their “mock” child witness. Fifty-eight preschool children participated in a medical examination, and were later interviewed by an experienced forensic interviewer (n = 15) about this event. Interviews were coded with mutually exclusive and exhaustive coding schemes that captured interviewers and child behaviours in a temporally organized manner. To evaluate the relationship between interviewers' and children's individual differences measured prior to the interview and the interview outcomes (i.e., questions asked, child interview behaviour), all child participants were tested with relevant cognitive and behavioural measures, and all adult interviewers were tested with personality measures. Results showed that leading questions were more often followed by simple assents and denial than expected. Interviewers did not remain consistent from question to subsequent question, but children's response type was predictable from response to subsequent response. Children's and adults' individual differences measured prior to the interview predicted some of the adults' interviewing behaviours and some of children's own response behaviours during the interview. Mediation modelling evinced that more self-controlled interviewers posed more recommended questions and elicited more assents with details from the children. We discuss the results in relation to established views of recommended interview practice and to theories of suggestibility.     

Candidate progression in analytic institutes: A multi-center study

This study documents the criteria for graduation and for awarding credit for training cases used by thirteen institutes of the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsA). At the time of this study, these thirteen institutes were training 63% of all candidates enrolled at institutes of the APsA. Questionnaires were sent to the progression committee chairperson (PCC), a junior candidate and a senior candidate, and a recent graduate at each institute. Each participant also had a follow-up semi-structured telephone interview. Return rate was 100%. 92% per cent of the institutes reported that in order to receive credit for cases, the patient needed to be in treatment for some minimum amount of time (average 18.3 months). Many PCCs were skeptical about writing down the criteria for credit, stating that this made candidates overly focused on the time requirement. 85% per cent of PCCs felt that graduation from the institute was based primarily on obtaining credit for cases. Few required a terminated case and only one felt that classroom work was an important factor. 47% per cent of candidates felt that the need to keep patients in treatment to receive credit for cases affected their treatment of patients and only 46% of candidates could state the minimum time requirement used by their institute. These results indicate that graduation from institutes of the APsA depends primarily on receiving credit for cases, that case length is an important criterion for awarding credit and that this method of evaluating candidates may not be the best way to support educational objectives.     

多面Rasch模型在结构化面试中的应用

使用项目反应理论中的多面Rasch模型,对66名考生在结构化面试中的成绩进行分析,剔除了由于评委等具体测量情境因素引入的误差对原始分数的影响,得到考生的能力估计值以及个体水平的评分者一致性信息。对基于考生能力估计值和考生面试分得到的决策结果进行比较,发现测量误差的确对决策造成影响,对个别考生的影响甚至相当巨大。进一步使用Facets偏差分析以及评委宽严程度的Facets分析追踪误差源。结果表明,将来自不同面试组的被试进行面试原始成绩的直接比较,评委的自身一致性和评委彼此之间在宽严程度上的差异均将导致误差。研究表明,采用Facets的考生能力估计值作为决策的依据将提高选拔的有效性。同时,Facets分析得到的考生个体层次的评分者一致性指标,以及评委与考生的偏差分析等研究结果还可以为面试误差来源的定位提供详细的诊断信息     

Thinking ahead: complexity of expectations and the transition to parenthood

This study examined the integrative complexity of thinking in individuals making the transition to parenthood, and the relationship between complexity and adjustment during this period. Sixty-nine couples were interviewed 3 months before their babies were born, and 6 months after the birth. The prenatal interview focussed on individuals' expectations about what it would be like being a parent; the postnatal interview focussed on individuals' actual experiences as parents. In addition, participants completed measures of depression, self-esteem, and marital satisfaction after each interview, and a measure of stress after the 6-month postnatal interview. Both men and women demonstrated a significant increase in the complexity of their thinking from the prenatal to the postnatal interview, with women demonstrating higher levels of complexity at both times. In addition, women with more complex expectations demonstrated better adjustment after their babies were born than did women with simpler expectations; these results were not obtained for men. Results are discussed with regard to the way in which thinking about the self changes as one negotiates major life transitions, and the way in which complex thinking can help counter some of the stresses that individuals may experience at these times.     

面试预测效度和构想效度研究述评

面试是人才甄选中最常用的测量工具。大量研究证实,面试的预测效度比较理想,但不同类型面试的预测效度存在差异。虽然能够证实面试的预测效度较好,但对面试的测量构想却知之甚少。研究面试的构想效度,对于提高面试的递增效度有着重要的实践价值。相对人格成分而言,以往研究对面试能够测量到认知成分形成了更加一致地认识。     

“I Know What You Want to Know”: The Impact of Interviewees' Ability to Identify Criteria on Interview Performance and Construct-Related Validity

The current study tested whether candidates' ability to identify the targeted interview dimensions fosters their interview success as well as the interviews' convergent and discriminant validity. Ninety-two interviewees participated in a simulated structured interview developed to measure three different dimensions. In line with the hypotheses, interviewees who were more proficient at identifying the targeted dimensions received better evaluations. Furthermore, interviewees' ability to identify these evaluation criteria accounted for substantial variance in predicting their performance even after controlling for cognitive ability. Finally, the interviewer ratings showed poor discriminant and convergent validity. However, we found some support for the hypothesis that the quality of the interviewer ratings improves when one only considers ratings from questions for which interviewees had correctly identified the intended dimensions.     

The efficacy of mnemonic components of the cognitive interview: towards a shortened variant for time‐critical investigations

The cognitive interview utilizes mnemonic instructions and social facilitative techniques to increase correct recall from eyewitnesses without concomitant increases in errors. Recent studies however have suggested that police may neglect this technique in time‐critical situations. The present study investigated mnemonic components to determine whether a shorter, but still effective, technique was possible. Forty‐five participants viewed a film of a simulated crime and were interviewed with one of three techniques: the cognitive interview; a modified version that replaced the change order and change perspectives techniques with additional free recall attempts; or a structured interview. It was hypothesized that the modified technique would be as effective as the cognitive interview, while both would be superior to the structured interview. Results supported these hypotheses. Further analysis suggested that a shortened version, with the two mnemonics removed, may substantially reduce interviewing time while still offering an effective interview strategy in time‐critical situations. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Methods of data collection,perceptions of risks and losses,and motivation to give truthful answers to sensitive survey questions

Two experiments examined survey respondents' concerns about risks and losses when answering sensitive questions in a survey. In Experiment 1 subjects watched one of eight different versions of a videotaped staged interview of a woman being asked about abortion and drunk driving. Experiment 2 was an actual survey interview about women's health issues, including abortion. In Experiment 2, a large proportion of the sample had a recent abortion for which validation information from the clinic was available. Results of both experiments indicate that, when responding to questions about sensitive topics, survey respondents are concerned about risks and losses other than those covered by standard confidentiality assurances and that these other concerns affect truthful reporting. Experiment 1 showed the importance of privacy in surveys of sensitive behaviours. The experiments suggest that under some circumstances interviewer‐administration of sensitive questions may produce data as good as or better than self‐administration. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Testing a modified cognitive interview with category clustering recall in Iran

The cognitive interview (CI) has been an effective method for interviewing eyewitnesses often leading to changes in legislation and practice in many countries. This study was the first to employ the CI in Iran and test whether category clustering recall (CCR) was superior to a free recall when incorporated within an investigative interview. A between‐subjects design assigned 66 participants to one of three interview conditions after they watched a mock robbery. The participants were interviewed 48 hr later using either a structured interview (SI), the CI, or a modified cognitive interview (MCI) that replaced free recall with CCR at the first retrieval attempt. Analysis of variance suggests CCR was more effective than free recall and the CI group recalled more information than the SI group, replicating the CI superiority effect. This has implications for law enforcement in Iran and worldwide by suggesting these techniques can be used to enhance recall.