Devine 1!

Katherine Devine

CO 305-51

Dr. Schmidt

12 December 2014

Field Project

For my field project assignment I interviewed Joy Burch, who is a patient experience officer

at Aultman Hospital. The type of interviewing I focused on and investigated was face to face,

survey, phone, and focus groups. Most of my questions related to patient satisfaction, which dealt

with finding out what people like/want and how to please them. This was important to me

because I like to see peoples needs met and wanted to find out which interviewing techniques

are effective for helping to find out what needs they have. In the field I want to go into, public

relations plays a large role, so it is of special importance to me to discover the ways that are most

successful in pleasing others.

Since the focus of my interview dealt with examples of when certain methods were used and

how the results were for each situation, I chose to do my research on the positive and negatives

to each method. I incorporated my findings into my schedule of questions by verifying if the

person I interviewed agreed with the claims I found throughout my research.

I had previously learned about all the methods I covered in the interview, but hearing about

them in an applied setting is helpful in better understanding which methods are more effective
 Devine 2!

than others in certain situations. Listening to stories of when she used various methods, as well

as the results, added to my knowledge of which situations are appropriate each method.

I really appreciate your time meeting with me today so I can learn more about interviewing
techniques in your job. I am eager to learn as much as I can about how you use these techniques
to effectively do your job
Face to Face Interview:
How do you decide which interviewing method to use for patient satisfaction?
Which interviewing method have you found to be most effective?
Can you give me an example of when youve used a face to face interview?
Ive done research that suggests face-to-face interviews allow the interviewer to establish rapport
and gain cooperation. Do you find this to be true?
How do you decide when to use the probing technique in face to face interviews?
Can you share some experiences when the probing method has been effective? Probe- Can you
share an experience when its been ineffective?
What has been your most difficult face to face interview experience? Probe- What did you learn
from it?
Survey:
Can you give me an example of when youve used a survey method?
During my research on the survey method, I came across the possibility of bias. How do you try
to avoid bias when administering surveys?
Can you share some experiences when the survey method has been effective? Probe- Can you
share an experience when its been ineffective?
Phone Interview:

Can you give me an example of when youve done a phone interview?

During a phone interview, you cant observe the nonverbal cues, how do you think this affects
your ability to interpret results?
Focus Group:
Can you give me an example of when youve used a focus group?
 Devine 3!

Ive done research that suggests focus groups stimulate dynamic conversations that lead to
discovery, exploration, direction and depth about topics. Do you find this to be true?
Additional Interviewing Method Questions:
What has been your most difficult interview experience? Probe- What did you learn from it?
How have you handled cultural or language differences when conducting interviews?
How have you integrated social media into any of the interviewing methods weve discussed?
Probe- If so, how have the results been?
Which interviewing method has provided the most benefit to your company? Probe- What were
the benefits?
Thank you very much for your time, I learned a lot from talking to you. Good luck with your job
in the future

Revisions- I changed the order of my questions from my initial transcript outline and grouped
together questions dealing with the same interviewing method to make the overall interview flow
better. I also was more specific on certain questions and added more probes, as well.
 Devine 4!

I really appreciate your time meeting with me today so I can learn more about interviewing

techniques in your job. I am eager to learn as much as I can about how you use these techniques

to effectively do your job

1. So, firstly, how do you decide which interviewing method to use for patient satisfaction?

-Ok, um, as far as the interview process that we use here at the hospital, were trying to

go towards more of behavioral questions when were talking to prospective employees

and were looking at the area of customer service, service excellence, those skills that go

along with that. Um, were trying to look at for example, in healthcare, people come to us

very vulnerable so were looking more at that caring and compassionate factor um

certainly, uh, attendance is one of those things. But I would say when youre asking me,

teamwork, because in this particular field, teamwork is extremely important. So, to

answer that question, we use behavioral based questions in that type of interview.

Analysis- I think she was confused on what exactly interviewing methods were, based

on her answer. She also got a little off topic, which I think was also due to the confusion

on the term interviewing methods. However, based on her responses to my later

questions about specific, individual methods, it was clear she utilized many of the

common interview methods in her area of work. If I were to do the interview again, I

would have clarified in the beginning what I meant by interviewing methods.

2. Okay and which interviewing method have you found to be most effective?
 Devine 5!

-Um, again, I think giving them situations and not having yes or no questions, giving

them a situation and saying how would you handle this? um and getting their response

on different situations, pose real life examples for instance, real working examples that

have happened in the hospital or in the clinic or wherever here in the hospital and then

posing those situations to them and getting their responses to them.

Okay, so behavioral based questions again?

-Uh huh.

Analysis- Although she didnt specifically say it, I gathered that she finds face to face

interviews to be most effective due to her reference to behavioral questions. Also, she

mentions later in the interview that she thinks face to face interviews have provided the

most benefit to the company, so that answer would be consistent with this one.

3. Can you give me an example of when youve used a face to face interview?

-Um, sure. I could say give me an example when you have initiated or tried to initiate a

change in a process or procedure. That might be a question. How did you come up with

the idea for change? If you did come up with an idea, how did you communicate that

out? What was the biggest hurdle in changing the process and then was there an

outcome based on that? So um, no matter what it is, if they were just changing a simple

process at their work, how do you handle working with a difficult co-worker and um

maybe giving them a situation on that. The other thing would be how do you judge your
 Devine 6!

own performance in terms of being customer oriented? Give me specific examples, not

saying yes or no, give me specific examples when you feel you provided excellent

customer service. What do you think you did better that others dont? Lets say if

somebody scored you higher on a survey versus another one. In what ways are you

doing a good job of determining customer needs and how do you know? Did you get

positive feedback, did you get positive feedback from your boss, from your co-workers?

And then I would ask In what ways can you improve customer service and then they

would have to provide answers on how they would do that.

Analysis- Rather than giving me a specific example of a time she used the face to face

interview, she gave me numerous example questions used in a face to face interview.

Therefore, I should have probed here to find out a certain time she used the face to face

interview method. However, it was beneficial to hear many different questions asked

because those examples were consistent with what we have covered in class in terms of

being open-ended and asking questions that require specific examples. I think her

response reaffirmed that questions that draw on past behavior and examples are the most

effective questions.

4. Okay so then I was going to ask how do you decide when to use the probing technique in

face to face interviews, so would you say with those questions, if they dont give you a

specific example, you often have to probe them to get more information out?
 Devine 7!

- Right, I mean I think if they just said yes or no, then I would go further into a situation

where I would want to see what their reactions are. I would take a look at their body

behavior when theyre in the interview and um, you know, kind of look for red flags, if

you will, by looking at that. I would say if they seem frustrated or having a hard time

coming up with a story about customer service, that might be a red flag. Maybe if they

showed little interest in the topic, that kind of thing. That would be another red flag.

Analysis- Her answer reaffirmed that it is necessary to probe deeper when one provides a

short answer that doesnt reveal a sufficient amount of information. Although she got

slightly off topic, she still provided a good point regarding how body language, as well

other nonverbal cues can reveal a lot about a persons interest level.

5. Okay and Ive done research that suggests face-to-face interviews allow the interviewer

to establish rapport and gain cooperation. Do you find this to be true?

-Um can you repeat that question one more time?

(repeats question)

-I totally do, I think that um, you can see a lot more in face to face, you can pick up on

more cues and like I just spoke about red flags uh, with the person that youre

interviewing. You can pick up again, body language, uh, the way the talk, the way they

present, their appearance, there are multiple things you can learn from a face to face

interview that you may not be able to determine on a phone interview.

 Devine 8!

Analysis- Her response verified that my research was accurate and proved the many

benefits face to face interviews provide. The ability to observe nonverbals in face to face

interviews makes it much easier to effectively evaluate a person.

6. Yeah so, with that probing you sometimes have to use, can you share an experience when

the probing method has been effective? Probe- Can you share an experience when its

been ineffective?

-When I think back about how I used to interview for employees, especially, you know,

perspective employees, they come to you and they, of course are apprehensive a lot of

times and anxious, so what I might do is rephrase and say you know, kind of try to put

them at ease and then give them maybe another scenario that they might feel more

comfortable with and kind of just, I think you have to individualize to the person youre

interviewing with. Its not a yes, we use a behavioral typed questioning, but you have to

individualize it to the person. Just like when we take care of patients, its not the same for

each patient, their needs are a little bit different for each one. I would individualize it to

that person. So, I think that if they were struggling, I would give them another question,

something along that line.

Analysis- In this response, she was referring to probing in a way other than when

someone gives you a vague answer and you must delve deeper. She thought of an

effective use of probing for when youre dealing with a variety of different people and
 Devine 9!

need to somewhat change your initial question depending on your interviewees answer

and if theyre struggling to answer.

7. Okay and has there ever been an experience that has been ineffective in any way?

-Um, the only thing I can think of is sometimes, when I say ineffective, I think the only

thing I can think of is it can put that person on the defense and they can get defensive and

that I guess its really not ineffective because you find out that they come up with, youre

seeing its maybe a red flag or a perception thing and you might have to clarify. So, if that

comes up, then its a matter they understand the purpose the question, so that may be a

problem. I mean thats the thing I would think of with probing, to make sure, you would

have to have them repeat back what youre really trying to get across there, to make sure

they have some level of understanding. I guess with that probing thing, it could be a

misinterpretation.

Analysis- I agree that probing can sometimes cause a person to get very defensive, but

she brought up a good point that even if a person does get defensive, it could be red flag.

Therefore, I gathered that probing is an extremely effective method because it allows you

to get more in depth answers or could reveal something negative about a person.

8. Right, okay can you give me an example of when youve used a survey method?
 Devine 10
!

-Um, well I dont personally use the survey method, but what I can talk to you about is

we do patient satisfaction surveys and we utilize a vendor here at the hospital and we are

now graded on that through the government, every hospital in the nation is now graded

on that and its not an interview for employees, but it is an interview I guess in a way, for

patient satisfaction so our hospital sends out a weekly data file to our national resource

corporation, which is our vendor that sends out our patient surveys and were contracted

with them to um, survey a certain percentage of our discharge patients. They receive,

within 48 hours, the national resource corporation sends them a survey and it basically

goes over all their areas of care- nurse communication, did the nurse treat you with

curtesy and respect and did they listen and explain, Physician communication, did they

listen and explain and curtesy and respect. How was the response time, did they go over

food and have a cleanliness of your room, Was it quiet at night, did you feel adequately

educated on discharge, was the response time good enough? Theres 58 questions that

go out to the patient, they have the choice whether to fill it out or not fill it out. What I

find is that patients that typically have a really good experience or sometimes maybe not

such a good experience fill that survey out. That gets sent back to the national research

corporation. They tabulate that data and they put it into the system. Then the hospitals can

access their website and we get that data and we then look at those metrics on a monthly

basis. The government now, its called value based purchasing and the hospitals are now

graded on patient satisfaction. Its 30% of our reimbursement, they can decrease our

reimbursement. I think, in 2013, it was decreased, it can be decreased like a half a

percent, but it can come up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. So, those patient surveys
 Devine 11
!

are very important metrics for us because we base projects on that, on patient feedback

So then projects come out of that on how we can improve satisfaction. So, its a very

effective method, um, again its perception. As I say perception is reality, everybody

perceives things a little differently. But if we see a trend, we certainly act upon it then. So

I would say for patient satisfaction, it is an effective method.

-So would you say surveys then are a big part of it then?

-For patient satisfaction, absolutely and right now, we do a mailing survey, there are other

survey methodology that they use, right now this hospital uses the written survey that

gets mailed out, theres telephone surveys and theres electronic surveys that go out too,

but at this point, we are not using that methodology.

Analysis- Through this answer, I discovered surveys play a large role in the area of

patient satisfaction. Since the hospital is now graded on the results of these surveys, it is

extremely important that they are serving patient needs effectively and that the surveys

questions are created in a non-biased matter.

9. Has there ever been a time where the survey method has been ineffective for you?

-Well, I would say if its going out to a patient, what sometimes makes it ineffective is if

we dont have enough responses. So if you have a lower response rate, then it affects

your metrics and so it only takes one or two people to be unhappy and our goal is to get

the 90th percentile, meaning that were better than 90 other hospitals in that database. So
 Devine 12
!

it really, I hate to say it, but it decreases our scores when we have and its not about the

scores, its um, I guess what it tells us is that we have to be on our game all the time

because it only takes one person to mess it up for everybody, as far as patient satisfaction

goes.

Analysis- This answer addressed a good point with that problem that people are often

reluctant to fill out surveys. Many lack the desire unless, like she said, have had a really

positive or really negative experience. Therefore, it is important to construct surveys that

are not too time consuming and are relatively simple and easy to fill out while still

delivering effective questions.

10. During my research on the survey method, I came across the possibility of bias. How do

you try and avoid bias when administering surveys?

-Well, as far as that goes, its a randomized survey that goes out. The national research

corporation has to abide by all the federal regulations on that. It has to be a very

randomized sampling, so to answer that, the surveys are sent out randomized so that

eliminates that whole bias portion. The only thing is, you know, we cant control who

fills the survey out, so if you have someone that maybe has cognitive issues, maybe a

family member fills it out or if theres certain demographics or their intellect, such that

maybe its a literacy thing that they cant fill it out. We cant really control that, but

certainly, we dont get that voice of that patient, so that can be a limiting factor.
 Devine 13
!

Analysis- She clearly explained how ensuring the surveys are randomized helps to

eliminate a lot of bias. However, it does pose a problem when someone else other than

the patient fills out the survey and the patient cant communicate their own feelings

themselves.

11. Can you give me an example of when youve done a phone interview?

-Sure. When I used to interview employees, one of the things I used to do is I would get

multiple applicants for a job and I would look over their resumes and their application

and if I had multiple people applying, I sometimes would call and get on the phone and

just ask them a few questions looking at their resume and so forth and that was just the

first step for me just to try and get who I was going to try and bring in for my top picks

based on not only a phone conversation, but the paper- the resume and their application.

That would kind of give me an idea of who I was going to bring in for the actual face to

face interview. The other time that Ive done some telephone is I run a patient voice

council here at the hospital. I started it a year ago and what that is made up of theyve had

to been a patient at the hospital or theyve had to have been a family member. Ive asked

them a few questions on the phone just to kind of feel, are you interested in this, kind of

tell them a little bit about the group first because I want people that are passionate about

giving feedback and when you do a focus group, you want a diverse group as far as age

goes, gender, cultural, you want that. But you dont want someone who is going to cause

conflict within a group as far as in a focus group. You dont need someone stirring the pot
 Devine 14
!

all the time. You certainly want all their feedback, but you dont want to have to be

putting out fires and fights during the focus group. So I kind of get a feel for that on the

phone with them and I get a feel for how they, you know I may ask them a couple

questions on the phone and then I bring them in for a face to face interview for this

patient council because it is a year commitment.

Analysis- She explained how it can be helpful to use a phone interview as a preliminary

step before proceeding further. Since it is more difficult to get accurate judging of a

person through the phone, I think it is a good method to use phone interviews as a first-

step before an actual interview or in the example of the focus groups, like she said. Phone

interviews provide a good initial idea about a person, but I like how she brings the person

in for the actual face to face interview because I agree it gives a more accurate reading of

a person.

12. So with the phone interviews, you cant really observe the nonverbal cues like you can in

face to face, so how do you think this affects your ability to interpret results.

-That is true. I think that you can certainly tell if someone is paying attention on the

phone because again, you can have them repeat back perhaps, what you said, have them

recap, ask them if they have had any questions. I think with voice inflection you can

certainly tell, you know, theres certain cues that you can tell if somebodys interested or

not. Kind of like a sales person would know if youre interested in buying a product or
 Devine 15
!

not. I meant theyre going to get that feeling if the person is going to hang up on them or

they might talk to them.

Analysis- She brought up a good point that even if you cant physically observe the

person youre interviewing, you can still discover a lot about a person through talking to

them on the phone. Voice inflection, along with response rate can be good indicators to

judge ones interest level.

13. Okay, so youve touched on the focus groups a little bit, but could you go into more detail

on when youve used your focus groups?

-Sure. I have actually done a couple different focus groups. Last year at the hospital, we

were doing a way finding project and um, what we did was, we comprised a focus group,

and again, it was a diverse group. We tried to get males and females, different ages,

young and old and actually get some different demographics in there on the way finding.

So what we did is we worked with a signage company here at the hospital and we put up

temporary signage for a day and we gave them like a scavenger hunt and we then had

them go through trying to find all the different signage- parking deck, emergency room,

the main lobby, just different areas that they had to locate. Then they had to come back in

participate in a focus group and we had a list of questions that we asked them- how easy

was it to find your way around, we had it colored coded and asked if that was helpful,

multiple questions we asked them and we had some really great group discussion

benefiting from that and I will tell you, we had it over like a three hour period and what
 Devine 16
!

was very useful in that is that a bunch of them kind of came together at the same time and

the power of that is one person may something and then thatll make them think of

something else and so then they bring in, so then we had some great discussion on ways

we could improve that, so thats the beauty of doing it live.

Analysis- Her detail of how focus groups can bring people together and help stimulate

conversation proves how this type of interviewing method can be very successful and

effective in creating great discussion. I think people are more likely to talk and express

their ideas in a more relaxed, group setting, which is why focus groups can be especially

effective in certain areas. This specific focus group served to be very beneficial to the

hospital as the group helped them evaluate how easy it is to find your way around the

hospital.

14. Yeah, that leads me to my next question because Ive done research that suggests focus

groups stimulate dynamic conversations that lead to discovery, exploration, direction and

depth about topics so you do find this to be true?

-Very true. Now I will tell you, I just spoke to you about the external signage project, but

we call it the patient voice, which is the council that we just finished our inaugural group

for a year. We meet on a monthly basis, we have a set agenda and then we also have time

for a group discussion and some free topics that the patients or family members are

passionate about. We propose a different agenda every month, we give them the topic and

theres a lot of discussion on each topic. For instance, we took them on a tour of a new
 Devine 17
!

patient room. We were doing some renovation here at the hospital and we took them and

got opinions about the furniture to sit on- the colors of the room, the flooring, so forth.

They gave us a bunch of feedback based on that. Theyve given us information on

medication communication, patient education, and so forth. The focus group has been

very powerful and I think that it has been a non-threatening group and I think the

facilitator has to you know, kind of keep everybody on track, but again, one person says

something and then it leads to another person saying something and another person

saying something and its been extremely effective at changing some processes here at

the hospital.

Analysis- Her response reaffirmed my research that focus groups can be extremely

effective in stimulating dynamic conversations since group discussion is such a key part

of focus groups. You can learn a lot of helpful information through group conversations.

In addition, she explained how this focus group proved very beneficial in helping the

hospital become better in certain areas.

15. Okay, so out of all those methods, whether its the focus group we just talked about, the

phone to phone, survey, or just face to face, which interviewing method do you think has

provided the most benefit to your company?

-In my opinion, face to face interviews are the best. I think you can find out a tremendous

amount from that. Again though, think what were trying to do at the hospital is were

using a tool that helps with the managers as far as the health assessment tool that is you
 Devine 18
!

know, I guess is screening people for their customer service, their professional, lots of

different things and they get scores based on that and theres you know, its a whole

program that kind of tries to help streamline some behavioral typed situations and

questions. The employee gets a score on this and its only a tool though and then they

come in for the live interview because someone could present for instance, they could

take the test and they could perform low, but then you could bring them in for an

interview and you may give them some situations and you know, some people dont take

tests well and so forth and so, it can contradict it. But then you may have a person that

comes in, same difference that scored extremely high on the test and then you interview

them and you pick up on a lot of things and so its not a good fit. So, its a tool that you

use, but I think you can see where it can be really beneficial. I dont think you can replace

the face to face interview.

-Yeah, I agree

Analysis- I completely agreed with her answer and that face to face interviews are very

successful in evaluating someone. She addresses a good point that someone may score

highly on a test, but not have advanced skills in face to face communication, which may

be a big problem depending on the job you have.

16. So what has been your most difficult interview experience

-Um, my most difficult process, um I would say the most challenging was for advanced

practice nurse in the physician role and I think the reason for that is I wasnt at the same
 Devine 19
!

level of expertise, perhaps. The physician got interviewed by myself and sometimes I

think were youre not on the same professional role, theres a barrier there and they may

not take you as serious when youre asking the questions and the answers. I would say

that was probably my more challenging one.

-So did you learn anything from that experience would you say?

-Yes, I did. What I did learn from that is to have another physician in the room with me

when I interview another physician. So that I had somebody that was on the same level of

expertise.

Analysis- I think she brought up key point that any barriers within an interview can

prevent it from being a successful interview. This relates to how it is very important to be

prepared for each interview to ensure that it goes as smooth as possible.

*Got phone call*

17. How have you handled cultural or language differences when conducting interviews?

-Um, I really havent had to deal with cultural per say, I guess I havent had to deal with

that. As far as, what was the other part of it besides the cultural?

-Language differences

-Oh, language differences. No I really, well I take it back. Some of the physicians that I

interviewed were from another country. I take that back and so, what I found is you cant

use slang because they dont understand what you mean and sometimes, it was a
 Devine 20
!

misunderstanding so you really have to talk you know, make sure they understand what

youre talking about because you could have miscommunication there because a lot of

times they dont understand certain words and so forth.

Analysis- I agree that it is important to keep language professional and avoid the use of

slang when dealing with those of other cultures and languages. As we discussed in class,

different cultures interpret things differently so although she hadnt had much experience

in working with those of other cultures, it is still important to recognize and be familiar

with these language and cultural differences.

18. Lastly, have you integrated social media into any of the interview methods weve

discussed?

-We have not at this point. One thing I can tell you is I know that different human

resource departments do check peoples Facebook and so forth to see if theres anything

outlandish out there, so just a word to the wise to watch what you put in print.

-Do you think in the future you might integrate any social media?

-Very possibly. I would think that because of everything, the way things are going,

certainly, I could see where that would be a benefit especially with the generation in the

next work force.

 Devine 21
!

Analysis- I think her answer implied that the use of social media involved with interview

methods is very likely due to the current generations extreme prevalence in social media.

I was slightly surprised they hadnt integrated social media yet, considering it is very

prevalent right now.

Okay, thank you very much for your time, I learned a lot from talking to you. Good luck

with your job in the future.

I stayed fairly close to my outline of questions, with some minor changes based on my

interviewees responses. I decided to change the order of question four and five because in her

answer to question three, she discussed many example questions she uses in interviews, so I

decided following that would be a good time to ask if she often has to use the probing technique

if they dont give specific enough answers to those example questions. I also decided not to ask

the question What has been your most difficult face to face interview experience because I

thought it was too similar to one of my final questions of What has been your most difficult

experience and she had already thoroughly talked about face to face interviews, so I didnt want

it to get too repetitive in that area. I also chose to change the order of questions nine and ten

because in her answer to question seven, she talked about how the survey method has been

extremely effective in her area of work, so I thought a good follow up question to her answer

would be if the survey method has ever been ineffective. For question thirteen, I also altered it a

little bit because in her answer to question twelve, she brought up focus groups a little, so it was

clear she has used them before. Therefore, I asked her if she could go more in depth about her
 Devine 22
!

experience with focus groups to learn more. In addition, I chose to ask the last question I had

planned after question fourteen because it made sense to ask which interviewing method has

provided the most benefit after we had finished going over all the different methods she uses in

her job. Although I asked a variety of questions, I think they all managed to stay on topic and

related to the purpose of the assignment.

I was more comfortable with this interview than the employment interview I conducted in

class because I knew more of what to expect. In my employment interview, I stuck to my

schedule of questions and rarely probed. I got caught up in the interview process and wasnt

listening to my interviewees answers closely enough to know when to probe. I think I improved

on that for this interview and it went smoother. I still was not extremely comfortable with the

whole interview process because I am still learning and dont have much experience with

conducting interviews like the two we have done. Although I probed more, I still have not gotten

extremely comfortable with that aspect of the interview. It is sometimes challenging for me to

think of good follow-up questions on the spot that pertains to topic and would serve as

meaningful additional question. I am naturally soft-spoken with those I am not comfortable with,

so it is often challenging for me to probe. However, I think if I were to do a third interview, I

would be much more prepared and comfortable talking to my interviewee.

After listening to the tape of my interview, it is much easier to note things I did well and

other areas I need to improve on. Compared to the employment interview, I thought I did a better

job of listening attentively to the interviewee and doing this allowed me to probe more

effectively. It is easy to get caught up in the interview process and not listen carefully to the
 Devine 23
!

interviewees answer, but by thoroughly listening to each answer, I was better able to probe if

needed. When looking at the transcript, it is easy to see that the interviewee did the majority of

the talking and that I would estimate I did about 30 percent of the talking. I allowed her enough

time to talk and as a result, I got long, thorough answers that provided me with a lot of useful

information. I never cut her off because I felt for the most part, the information she was

providing was relevant and helpful in me gaining more information about the interviewing

methods utilized in her field.

The probing I discussed in my earlier paragraph leads me to saying that the most difficult

part of the interview for me is effectively probing. Since I have little experience with conducting

an interview, I am still working on becoming fully comfortable with them and the toughest area

for me in them is probing. I like having a prepared set of questions and dont have total

confidence deviating from those questions frequently. I worry about making the interviewee

uncomfortable due to my probing, but I realize that it is a natural part of the interview process

and something I will eventually learn to feel comfortable doing. It was also somewhat

challenging to probe due my interviewees long answers that sometimes covered a variety of

points. As a result, there were times I thought of follow-up questions to ask, but since she

continued talking for long periods of time, my question I had in mind no longer seemed

appropriate to ask by the time she was finished responding. Also, due to her very long, complex

answers, it becomes more difficult to know whether or not she fully answered my question

because it was easy to get caught up in her answers. Once reading my transcript, it is easier to

see areas I should have probed after closely examining her entire answer.
 Devine 24
!

The part of the interview I was most pleased with was receiving my interviewee

providing a variety of different examples that applied to each individual method. For almost

every answer, she provided real life examples which helped me better understand how to

effectively use different methods when dealing with certain areas. For example, the survey

method proved to be very effective when trying to judge patient satisfaction and focus groups

proved to be very effective when seeking group feedback about certain areas of the hospital.

Rather than just answering that she utilized a survey to determine patient satisfaction, she instead

went in depth about what types of questions were asked, what the results were used for, and why

they were so important. Receiving this additional background information helped me to better

understand how different interview methods are applied to her job.

I interviewed Joy in her office and I felt that was a comfortable, appropriate setting for

the interview. I also thought my schedule of questions flowed well by grouping the questions of

the same methods together. By not varying the order of the methods, I felt my interviewee was

able to focus on one method at a time and believe doing this made the interview process easier

for her. If I were to do this interview again I would try and make some of my questions even

more specific to better ensure I am getting the exact answer Im looking for. For example, when I

asked how do you decide which interviewing method to use for patient satisfaction, I would

have further specified by saying Out of the various interview methods such as face to face,

surveys, phone, or focus groups, how do you decide which method to use for patient

satisfaction. By doing this, it would have let her know that I was looking for a response

referring to one of those methods, rather than a response dealing with what types of questions

they ask. Since those were the various methods I chose to study, I wanted to gain information on
 Devine 25
!

how she used any of those questions in the area of patient satisfaction. Similar to question one, in

question two, she did not state a specific interviewing method, but rather talked more about

behavioral questions, so again, by further specifying in question one, she probably would have

been able to answer question two more effectively. Also, for question number three, instead of

saying Can you give me an example of a time youve used the face to face method, I would

instead ask Can you give me a specific time where you had to use the face to face method. By

doing this, she probably would have known I wanted to know what time of situations she uses

face to face interviews for. I liked how she provided me with example questions, but I also

wanted to know what type of situation those questions were used for, which in retrospect, I

should have probed on. If I were to ask the newly formatted question and she only told me a time

shes used the face to face method, then I would have further probed by asking her what types of

questions she asked. However, I think as the interview progressed, she gained a better

understanding of the interview and became more effective in her answers.

Overall, I thought the interview went pretty smoothly. I received a lot of helpful

information on how face to face interviews are key when looking at perspective employees, how

surveys are very effective in determining patient satisfaction, how you are still able to pick up

nonverbal cues during a phone interview, and how focus groups can be extremely beneficial

when needing group feedback about certain areas of the hospital. The few problems I had dealt

with not specific enough questions at times, which led to less beneficial information in answers,

and lack of sufficient probing in some areas. I think further editing some of my questions, along

with incorporating even more probing into my interview would have made it even more
 Devine 26
!

successful. However, I was very happy with all of the information I gained and the amount I

learned about interviewing methods utilized in her work.

My findings were consistent with the articles I found dealing with interview methods. For

example I asked During my research on the survey method, I came across the possibility of

bias. How do you try and avoid bias when administering surveys and she agreed with this

statement and went on to say how they make sure their survey group is a completely randomized

selection. Also, I asked Ive done research that suggests face-to-face interviews allow the

interviewer to establish rapport and gain cooperation. Do you find this to be true and she

definitely agreed with this and further stated that you can pick up on much more cues, such as

body language and also can see potential red flags through directly being able to observe.

Another question I asked relating to my research was "Ive done research that suggests focus

groups stimulate dynamic conversations that lead to discovery, exploration, direction and depth

about topics so you do find this to be true and she responded very positively to this statement

and immediately agreed. She went on to say how the focus group method has provided a lot of

benefit to the hospital in multiple areas. My research was consistent with my discussion with her

and it was nice to have her back up these statements with real life experiences shes had. You can

read a great deal of information about various interview methods, but learning about applied

examples of these methods has helped me to better grasp and understand the content.