An Investigation of Interviewer Note Taking in the Field

Although a key component of a structured interview is note taking, relatively few studies have investigated the effects of note taking. To address this lack of research, we conducted a study that examined the effects of note taking in a work setting. As predicted, we found that the total number of notes taken by interviewers and the level of detail of these notes were positively related to the ratings these interviewers gave to job applicants, that interviewer ratings of applicants who were hired were predictive of their job performance ratings, and that interviewer ratings mediated the relationships between note taking and performance ratings (i.e., the number of notes and their level of detail did not have a direct effect on performance ratings). We also showed that, if uncontrolled, interviewer nesting can result in misleading conclusions about the value of taking detailed notes.

Beyond the In-Person Interview? How Interview Quality Varies Across In-person, Telephone, and Skype Interviews

Conducting qualitative interviews in-person is usually presented as the gold standard, with other modes being seen as inferior. There have been arguments, however, that remote interviews, such as those conducted using the telephone or videoconference technologies, should be seen as equivalent to or even superior to in-person interviews. Evaluations of these claims have been limited by the small number of interviews used to compare modes. We analyze over 300 interviews conducted using three modes: in-person, telephone, and Skype. Our analyses find that in-person interviews have clear advantages when it comes to producing conversation turns and word-dense transcripts and field notes but do not significantly differ from the other two modes in interview length in minutes, subjective interviewer ratings, and substantive coding. We conclude that, although remote interviews might be necessary or advantageous in some situations, they likely do often come at a cost to the richness of information produced by the interviews.

NEIGHBORHOOD CONDITIONS AND SELF-NEGLECT IN LATER LIFE: LONGITUDINAL EVIDENCE FROM THE NSHAP

Self-neglect includes persistent inattention to personal hygiene and the conditions of one’s immediate living environment and is known to be associated with an increased risk of mortality among older adults. Although previous studies have shown that many individual factors predict self-neglect, neighborhood characteristics have received much less attention. Extant research has yet to consider connections between the conditions of one’s neighborhood and self care over time. Using nationally representative longitudinal data from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP), we consider several features of neighborhood context in later life, including self-reported perceptions of neighborhood cohesion and neighborhood danger, neighborhood disorder (measured by interviewer ratings), and concentrated neighborhood disadvantage (using census data). Adjusting for individual-level factors (including social connection, physical and cognitive health, and demographics), results from both lagged dependent variable and cross-lagged panel models find higher levels of neighborhood disorder to be associated with higher self-neglect scores (measured by interviewer ratings) over time. Social cohesion, perceived neighborhood danger, and collective efficacy were not associated with self-neglect when controlling for neighborhood disorder. These findings suggest that improving neighborhood disorder may be an effective approach for self-neglect prevention in later life

Are Religious Teens Nice Kids? Faith and Congeniality among American Adolescents

One body of extant research has documented the social contours and positive effects of teen religiosity, while another has explored the religious sources of social congeniality (“niceness”) among adult Americans. This study integrates these parallel bodies of scholarship by examining the religious bases of niceness among American teens. Using post-hoc interviewer ratings from wave 1 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), we examine the degree to which religious teens are perceived more positively than their nonreligious peers. Associations linked to six dimensions of teen religiosity are considered. Select facets of teen religiosity are associated with more positive interviewer ratings, particularly for interpersonal warmth, thereby providing modest support for hypothesized patterns. Findings are interpreted in light of current theories of religious involvement, interpersonal dispositions, and social competencies.

How Universal Is the General Factor of Personality? An Analysis of the Big Five in Forager Farmers of the Bolivian Amazon

In various personality models, such as the Big Five, a consistent higher order general factor of personality (GFP) can be identified. One view in the literature is that the GFP reflects general social effectiveness. Most GFP studies, however, have been conducted in Western, educated, industrialized, and rich democracies (WEIRD). Therefore, to address the question of the universality of the GFP, we test whether the GFP can also be identified in a preliterate indigenous sample of Tsimane by using self-reports, spouse reports, and interviewer ratings. In the Tsimane, a viable GFP could be identified and the intercorrelations between personality traits were significantly stronger than in samples from industrial countries. The GFP correlated with the ratings of social engagement. In addition, self and spouse ratings of the GFP overlapped. Overall, the findings are in line with the notion that the GFP is a human universal and a substantive personality factor reflecting social effectiveness.

Validity of the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory–Short Version in Justice-Involved and At-Risk Adolescents

The current study examined the reliability and validity of the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory–Short Version (YPI-S) in two different samples of at-risk adolescents enrolled in a residential program ( n = 160) and at a detention facility ( n = 60) in the United States. YPI-S scores displayed adequate internal consistency and were moderately associated with concurrent scales on other self-report psychopathy measures and externalizing behaviors. YPI-S scores were moderately related to interviewer-ratings of the construct using the four-factor model of the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version. Findings suggest that the YPI-S may be a clinically useful and valid tool for the assessment of psychopathic traits in juvenile settings. This may be particularly true given the differential predictive utility of each of its dimensions.

Assessing Information Assessments

While many analysts use PK scales to make claims about what people know and why it matters, others use subjective interviewer assessments. The ANES is a common source of these assessments. The ANES asks its interviewers to offer “a five-level summary evaluation of each respondent’s level of information level.” Interviewers rate each respondent as “very high,” “high,” “average,” “fairly low,” or “very low.” Data from these assessments appear in widely cited academic articles on political ignorance. In one such article, Bartels (1996: 203) argues that this variable’s use is preferable to PK scales. He claims that interviewer assessments are . . . no less (and sometimes more) strongly related than factual information scales are to relevant criterion values such as political interest, education, registration, and turnout (Zaller 1985: 4). Given the added difficulty of making comparisons from one election year to another using scales based on rather different sets of available information items of variable quality, the simpler interviewer ratings seem preferable for my purposes here. . . . Other scholars have augmented the case for using interviewer assessments in attempts to understand the relationship between knowledge and other factors. As Claassen and Highton (2006: 415) write: . . . To measure political information, we rely on NES interviewer ratings of respondents’ levels of political information. This indicator has two primary virtues. First, it is present in each of the surveys we analyze providing a consistent measure across survey years. Second, it has proven to be a valid measure. Bartels used it to provide important insights into public opinion toward … information effects in presidential voting (Bartels, 1996). Given our focus on changing information effects over time, we share the view that because of the “added difficulty of making comparisons from one election year to another using scales based on rather different sets of available information items of variable quality, the simpler interviewer ratings seem preferable.” . . . In a footnote (2006: 415n), they continue the argument: . . . For the purposes of this paper, we also prefer the interviewer rating to measures of policy specific information. . . .