502 Appendix A Competent InterviewingInformation-gathering interviews can have different variations. Did your
computer freak out and delete all of your programs? Have you ever found un-
authorized charges on your credit card bill? If so, you are probably intimately
familiar with “help desks” or customer service lines. Representatives contacted at
these organizations will conduct service-oriented interviews or helping inter-
views designed to cull information and provide advice, service, or support based
on that information.
Many television and radio shows involve interviews dealing with politics,
crime, governments, the military, international events, weather, and sports.
These media interviews seek to get information about people and events and
sometimes analyze the information or express opinions and emotions. Sports
interviews provide a good example. On-field (court) interviews with coaches
and athletes capture their emotions in the heat of the win or the defeat, whereas
the official postgame interviews provide more predictable, controlled answers.
A 2013 on-field interview with Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sher-
man illustrated the possible pitfalls with court interviews; Sherman’s on-air
rant against an opponent revealed his personal emotion but overshadowed
the team’s win that advanced the Seahawks to the Super Bowl. Often media
interviews occur in the talk-show format. The Golf Channel’s Feherty features
retired professional golfer and television analyst David Feherty interviewing
famous golfers as if they’re on The View, Dr. Phil, the Ellen DeGeneres Show, or
the late night shows.
Although all types of interviews involve information gathering to some ex-
tent, we’ll look next at other types of interviews with unique additional qualities.Persuasive Interviews
At times the goal of an interview is designed to elicit some change in the inter-
viewee’s behavior or opinions. These persuasive interviews can involve ques-
tions aimed at securing support for or against a particular candidate (political),
convincing others to give blood during a campus campaign (volunteer), or re-
questing money for an organization or cause (philanthropical).
One type of persuasive interview is the problem-solving interview, which
attempts to persuade participants to deal with problems, tensions, or conflicts.
If you’ve ever seen an episode of A&E’s Beyond Scared Straight, you’ve seen this
type of interview in action. In this show at-risk teen of-
fenders are exposed to criminals in prison in an attempt
to dissuade them from criminal activity. The teens are
asked questions, given information, and helped with
formulating a plan or solution to curb their at-risk
behaviors.
Problem-solving interviews can also occur in the
workplace (such as you and your supervisor meeting
to figure out how you can most effectively work from
home during snow days) and even in medical situations.
Your doctor, for example, may interview you about dif-
ficulties in your life that may affect your physical well-
being; before your appointment, you should prepareTV SHOWS LIKE A&E’s
Beyond Scared Straight use
problem-solving interviews to
help at-risk teenagers reeval-
uate their lives. © A&E/Courtesy
Everett CollectionCONNECT
Ethical considerations are
important when planning
a persuasive interview. As
you learn in Chapter 16,
there is a difference be-
tween persuading people
and coercing them with
threats. If you’re going
door-to-door to support a
political candidate, remem-
ber that your job is to give
people information—not to
intimidate or belittle them
into supporting your candi-
date. That is clearly unethi-
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