Art requires creativity
and innovation based on a foundation of discipline. A musician must master scales before he or
she can improvise. A painter must
understand the color spectrum and geometric forms to create compelling abstract
art. An interviewer needs to be able to
read verbatim in order to gather useful information.
Several years ago I
devised a mock survey questionnaire to use for screening applicants for
telephone interviewer positions. Research and my own experience showed that
interviewers need continual supervision and coaching to consistently read
survey questionnaires verbatim. I needed
to do something that would help me hire interviewers who already have the
ability to read verbatim.
Reading survey questions
exactly as they are written is important because changing the wording of a
question can change the meaning of a question.
- Could you tell your boss to go jump in the lake?
- Would you tell your boss to go jump in the lake?
- Should you tell your boss to go jump in the lake?
These three questions are
very similar, but they are different questions.
I could tell my boss to go
jump in the lake. I am physically able
to utter those words. Would I?
It depends on the answer to the last question. If an interviewer says “could” instead of “would”
the interviewer has re-written the question.
If some respondents hear “could” instead of “would,” we would get
answers to different questions when we think we are getting answers to the same
question. Our analysis of opinions would
be inaccurate.
The interviewers I
supervise generally do a good job of reading verbatim, but they are human
beings. If I could record myself reading
survey questions verbatim and then let a voice recognition system call people
to let them hear the questions I could reduce interviewer error. Reducing interviewer error would help us
deliver more accurate information to our clients while reducing the amount of
money we spend on supervising and coaching interviewers to read verbatim.
An interviewer needs to be
a robot when reading questions and a human being when listening to
answers. A voice recognition system
would need to have an Artificial Intelligence component to be able to probe
vague answers to open ended questions.
We will need disciplined interviewing artists until then.
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