Interviewing In Social Work

INTERVIEWING IN SOCIAL WORK A Sociological Analysis BY PAULINE V. YOUNG, Ph. D. The University of Southern California, Author of Pilgrims of Russian Town INTRODUCTION BY JOANNA C. COLCORD Russell Sage Foundation FIRST EDITION SIXTH IMPRESSION McGRAW-HILL BOOK COMPANY, INC. NEW YORK AND LONDON 1935 COPYRIGHT, 1935, BY THE MCGRAW-HILL BOOK COMPANY, INC. PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission of the publishers. THE MAPLE PRESS COMPANY, YORK, PA. To ERNEST W. BURGESS TEACHER AND FRIEND PREFACE Interviewing is the tool par excellence of the social worker. It is the most constantly used of all social work techniques. Whether with clients, fellow-workers, executives, or public officials, social workers are constantly using some form of inter viewing. They find themselves frequently under the necessity of inducing people to talk fully, freely, and truthfully they must explore the experiences, attitudes, and opinions of a wide variety of personalities. The facility with which interviewing is carried on often means the difference between good and bad social work. Interviewing is a difficult and delicate art. Failure to secure needed information, invasion of the interviewees personality, conflict, and hostility - occur only too frequently even with experienced interviewers. Fortunately interviewing has proved to be a communicable technique. The inexperienced can learn from the experienced, and the professionals can pass on to each other much of the skill they have acquired. True, an indispensable minimum of desirable personal traits is needed. The taciturn, sullen, or cynical interviewer or theunimaginative, dull, insensitive interviewer, as well as the talkative, thoughtless, or scatter brained, can hope to accomplish little beyond carrying on formal questioning and the mere filling out of schedules and face-sheets, however much they may know academically of the sociology and psychology of interviewing processes. On the other hand, the sympathetic, cultured, sensitive worker may fail for the reason that he does not understand how to deal with a nervous or unresponsive or deceptive interviewee. For such interviewers a social psychological analysis of interviewing processes and a careful study of the experiences of other interviewers have much to offer. In the present state of the social sciences and of social work in particular a volume on interviewing cannot pretend to deal with all the possibilities suggested by so broad a subject. Professional literature on interviewing is still in a nebulous state. So far vii viii PREFACE as it is available the author has drawn heavily upon it. Where there are gaps she has been compelled to fall back upon her own experience and information. Since interviewing is in many respects inseparable from general case work, it has not been possible to avoid considerable dis cussion of case work problems. The present treatment is for several reasons sociological. Interviewing as here conceived is itself a phenomenon in the general field of social interaction, and the problems which it faces have to do for the most part with social situations. Further more, such competence as the author may have lies in the field of sociology. The needs of both practitioners and students have been kept in mind in the preparation of this volume. That is, logical aswell as pedagogical considerations have governed the organiza tion of the material. However, much of the critical evaluation of the material presented is left for the students to grapple with under the guidance of the instructor who knows their academic background. The author has sought to avoid dogmatic atti tudes on controversial matters and indoctrination of the student in case work, and has endeavored to supply the bases for inde pendent judgment. PAULINE V. YOUNG. Los ANGELES, CALIF., February, 1935...