Navigating the formal employment interview has long been an imposing obstacle to acquiring gainful employment in the white-collar world, particularly that of the United States. Conventional wisdom offers a wide variety of suggestions for achieving the best possible outcomes from the interview, for instance smiling, having a firm handshake, demonstrating interest in the company, and “being yourself.” Much of this common knowledge is based primarily in intuition and carry-over from standard conversational best practices, rather than rigorous empirical testing. As such, this literature review sets out to bring together the various works of interview research that currently exist, with the goal of determining A) what candidate behaviors are most conducive to high interview ratings, B) strategies for coping with the effects of interview and interviewer characteristics on the interview’s reliability and validity, and C) areas of this still-growing topic that would benefit most from further research. By implementing the findings discussed in this review, employers and employees alike will be better equipped to make the best, most mutually beneficial use of the formal job interview.

The English original form of a standardized social interview was presented by Clare and Cairns (1978). The German version is described with regard to concept, structure, and methodology. The interview is designed to assess social maladjustment by measuring three conceptual categories (“Objective Material Conditions,” “Social Management,” and “Satisfaction”) in eight role areas. The instrument is especially suited for outcome assessment in various clinical and non-clinical populations and takes an average of about 30–45 min to complete. The 39 items are rated on 4-point scales either by the interviewer with the help of an extensive rating manual, or by the subject himself (all “Satisfaction” items). The results of a reliability study are presented using both the test-retest and the interrater method. In general, the results show that the instrument is satisfactorily reliable, but some possible weaknesses are discussed. Finally, the structure of the instrument is examined by an analysis of interrelationships between the items in a normal population sample. The results are discussed with regard to questions of score construction.

Navigating the formal employment interview has long been an imposing obstacle to acquiring gainful employment in the white-collar world, particularly that of the United States. Conventional wisdom offers a wide variety of suggestions for achieving the best possible outcomes from the interview, for instance smiling, having a firm handshake, demonstrating interest in the company, and “being yourself.” Much of this common knowledge is based primarily in intuition and carry-over from standard conversational best practices, rather than rigorous empirical testing. As such, this literature review sets out to bring together the various works of interview research that currently exist, with the goal of determining A) what candidate behaviors are most conducive to high interview ratings, B) strategies for coping with the effects of interview and interviewer characteristics on the interview’s reliability and validity, and C) areas of this still-growing topic that would benefit most from further research. By implementing the findings discussed in this review, employers and employees alike will be better equipped to make the best, most mutually beneficial use of the formal job interview.

Little is known about how psychotherapy patients perceive and evaluate computer-assisted diagnostic interviews for mental disorders. Using the World Health Organization's Composite International Diagnostic Interview in its computer-administered form, psychologists interviewed 236 psychotherapy patients, who evaluated the interview with regard to content, comprehensibility, and acceptance. More than 87% of patients evaluated the interview positively. Higher symptom severity and comorbidity, but not depression, were associated with a slightly lower but still favorable appraisal. The results indicate that the use of computerized clinical diagnostic interviews, previously usually restricted to research, seems to be a time-efficient, economical, and acceptable approach for the diagnostic phase of psychotherapy. The indications of diminished acceptability among multimorbid and severely disturbed patients warrant further study. Implications for quality assurance and practice research networks are discussed. / Wir wissen wenig darüber, wie Psychotherapiepatienten computergestützte Interviews für psychische Störungen erleben und bewerten. Trainierte Psychologen untersuchten 236 konsekutive Patienten einer Psychotherapieambulanz mit dem Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) in seiner computergestützen Version.. Danach beurteilten die befragten Patienten das Interview auf der Basis einer 15 Items umfassenden Liste hinsichtlich Inhalt, Verständlichkeit und Akzeptanz. 87% der Patienten bewerteten das Interview positiv, und gaben z.B. an froh zu sein, dass “die Befragung so genau und ausführlich war”. Größere Symptombelastung und höhere Komorbidität, nicht aber das Ausmaß an Depression, waren mit einer etwas schlechteren, absolut gesehen aber immer noch guten Bewertung des Interviews assoziiert. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass computergestützte Interviews, die bisher fast nur im Forschungsbereich eingesetzt wurden, eine zeit- und kosteneffiziente sowie für den Patienten akzeptable Möglichkeit für die Eingangsdiagnostik psychotherapeutischer Behandlungen darstellen. Die Hinweise auf eine geringere Akzeptanz bei multi-morbiden und stärker beeinträchtigten Patienten sollten weiter untersucht werden. Implikationen für die Qualitätssicherung und Praxisforschungsnetzwerke werden diskutiert.

Kann die Austragung Olympischer Spiele 2012 in Leipzig die Abwanderungsquote sächsischer Jugendlicher in die Altbundesländer beeinflussen? Um diese Frage zu beantworten werden in dieser Arbeit die Situation sächsischer Jugendlicher, der Wirtschaft und des Sport in Bezug zu möglichen Folgen Olympischer Spiele gesetzt. In einer empirischen Studie konnte mittels qualiativer Interviews bestätigt werden, dass die Wanderungsquote durch Olympische Spiele sinken kann.

The present study examined inter-rater agreement on the Anxiety Disorder Interview Schedule DSM-IV Child and Parent Interview (ADIS-IV-C/P) in youth with autism spectrum disorder and if age and ASD diagnosis moderated agreement. Diagnoses established for 70 7-16-year-old youth with ASD during a live administration of the ADIS-IV-C/P were compared to diagnoses identified by a second rater after listening to audiotaped recordings of the interviews. Inter-rater agreement on parent and child reports was excellent (k=1.00). Inter-rater agreement on principal diagnoses (k=0.91), individual anxiety diagnoses (k=0.85-0.97), and other comorbid diagnoses (i.e., major depressive disorder, dysthymia, oppositional defiant disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder-Inattention/Hyperactivity/Combined Type) (0.89-1.00) were excellent; agreement did not differ as a function of ASD diagnosis or age. Results suggest that the anxiety disorders and comorbid disorders assessed by the ADIS-IV-C/P can be diagnosed by pairs of clinicians with good reliability.

L’objectif de cette thèse était de fournir des recommandations aux professionnels de la justice pour recueillir la parole des adolescents, population de témoin peu étudiée en laboratoire. Pour cela, cinq études ont été conduites. Les deux premières avaient pour objectif de dresser un état des lieux des pratiques des enquêteurs français. Nous avons observé une spécificité des adolescents, notamment en ce qui concerne le recours aux suggestions d’informations. Celles-ci étaient plus fréquemment faites lorsque l’adolescent venait de développer un propos, ce qui n’était pas le cas avec des mineurs plus jeunes. Cela pourrait signifier des objectifs d’audition différents selon l’âge du mineur (Étude 1). Pourtant, les recommandations internationales déconseillent fortement l’usage des suggestions en raison des biais mémoriels qu’elles peuvent entrainer immédiatement comme de manière différée. Ensuite, nous avons montré que les adolescents sont les plus représentés parmi les mineurs témoins et/ou victimes dans les affaires françaises et qu’ils sont généralement perçus comme menteurs et pudiques par les enquêteurs (Étude 2). Une étude conduite avec des gendarmes formés aux techniques de recueil de la parole des mineurs témoins (vs. non formés ; Étude 3) a montré que ces utilisations des questions suggestives seraient dues à une croyance des enquêteurs selon laquelle les suggestions pouvaient aider le mineur à se souvenir et à rappeler des informations, mais aussi (et surtout) permettre à l’enquête d’avancer. Ceci était d’autant plus vrai pour les gendarmes non formés. Pour répondre à ces pratiques inappropriées, mais aussi aux besoins des enquêteurs, nous nous sommes intéressés à deux versions modifiées de l’entretien cognitif (ECM). En effet, ce protocole d’audition est basé sur un questionnement ouvert (plutôt que fermé ou suggestif), et propose des stratégies de récupération efficaces. En favorisant la récupération en mémoire et le rappel des informations, il pourrait alors optimiser leur fiabilité, en vue de les exploiter lors de l’enquête judiciaire. Pour cela, nous avons testé la mnémotechnique du Séquençage (Étude 4), qui a montré ses bénéfices. Nous avons en effet observé une hausse du rappel des informations correctes (vs. entretien structuré ; ES). Toutefois, celle-ci s’accompagnait d’une hausse des erreurs. Un résultat similaire a été observé en testant une version raccourcie de l’ECM pour des événements répétés dans le temps (vs. événement unique ; Étude 5). De plus, cette étude a mis en avant une hausse des affabulations avec l’ECM (comparativement à un ES, et indépendamment de la fréquence de l’événement), mais aussi des confusions entre les différents événements visionnés par une partie des adolescents. Ces augmentations des informations erronées n’entrainaient cependant, dans aucune des deux études, de chute du taux d’exactitude. Ces résultats seront discutés au regard de la littérature scientifique, et des recommandations appliquées seront formulées afin d’aider les enquêteurs à conduire au mieux leurs auditions d’adolescents témoins et/ou victimes. / The goal of this thesis was to provide recommendations to any practitioner involved in the justice system to interview adolescent witnesses and/or victims, a population little studied in laboratory analogue contexts. To do so, five studies were conducted. The first two studies were aimed at establishing an inventory of the young French investigators’ witness interview practices. We observed that adolescents are a specific population, in particular regarding the use of suggestive questions. This type of questions increased right after the adolescents had just developed a statement, which was not the case with younger children. This result might reveal that, during investigative interviews with children and adolescents, the investigators have different aims depending on the age of the young witness (Study 1). However, international recommendations strongly discourage the use of suggestions because of immediate and delayed memory biases that may occur. Secondly, we have shown that adolescents represent most of the under legal age witnesses and/or victims in French cases, and that investigators generally perceived them as liars and as easily ashamed (Study 2). A study conducted with military police officers who previously had training in the use of structured interview techniques (vs. untrained officers; Study 3) showed that their use of suggestive questions were related to the belief that suggestive prompts could help the young witness and/or victim retrieve and recall information, but also (and most importantly) allow the investigation to move forward. This was especially observed with untrained military police officers. To deal with these inappropriate practices, we investigated the efficiency of two modified versions of the cognitive interview (MCI). This interview protocol is based on an open (rather than closed or suggestive) questioning style, and proposes effective retrieval strategies. Relying on techniques that promote memory retrieval and recall of information, it could then enhance the adolescents’ statements’ reliability, for these to be used during the investigation. We therefore tested a mnemonic called ‘guided peripheral focus’ (Study 4), which showed its benefits. Indeed, we observed an increase in the recall of correct information (vs. structured interview; SI). However, this was accompanied by an increase in errors. A similar pattern was observed with a shortened version of the MCI (vs. SI) used for repeated events (vs. single event; Study 5). In addition, this last study showed an increase in confabulations with the MCI (compared to a SI, and irrespective of the frequency of the event), but also in confusions between the different events experienced by some of the adolescents. However, these increases in erroneous details did not lead to a drop in the accuracy rate in either study. The results of the five studies will be discussed in regards with the scientific literature, and recommendations to help justice practitioners conduct their adolescent witness and/or victim interviews as appropriately as possible will be provided

The presented diploma thesis presents the method of cognitive interview and describes the possibilities of its use in the preparatory proceedings. The theoretical part defines the interrogation of a witness in the preparatory proceedings and introduces the psychological processes in creating witness statement. In the following chapters, the thesis focuses only on the method of cognitive interview, presents its processs, basic techniqes, but also a comparison with other interrogation methods. The greatest emphasis of the thesis is on the use of cognitive interview with the police and specific groups that participate in the preparatory proceedings. Part of the thesis is also research, which is divided into two parts. Each of them aims to describe the current process of interrogating witnesses and victims in the Czech Republic, to help answer the question of whether it is important to try to implement the method of cognitive interview in the Czech environment. Thanks to the analysis of five interrogation videos and seven interviews with police officers from practice, it was possible to identify some interrogation techniques that are considered effective in the cognitive interview method, but also those that the method recommends not to use. Of the four cognitive interview techniques, which are...

The presented diploma thesis presents the method of cognitive interview and describes the possibilities of its use in the preparatory proceedings. The theoretical part defines the interrogation of a witness in the preparatory proceedings and introduces the psychological processes in creating witness statement. In the following chapters, the thesis focuses only on the method of cognitive interview, presents its processs, basic techniqes, but also a comparison with other interrogation methods. The greatest emphasis of the thesis is on the use of cognitive interview with the police and specific groups that participate in the preparatory proceedings. Part of the thesis is also research, which is divided into two parts. Each of them aims to describe the current process of interrogating witnesses and victims in the Czech Republic, to help answer the question of whether it is important to try to implement the method of cognitive interview in the Czech environment. Thanks to the analysis of five interrogation videos and seven interviews with police officers from practice, it was possible to identify some interrogation techniques that are considered effective in the cognitive interview method, but also those that the method recommends not to use. Of the four cognitive interview techniques, which are...

Children bring to school preconceptions about various phenomena. At the same time, they form mature conceptions during the course of lessons. It is important to know what these preconceptions and conceptions are for the purposes of development of curricula of respective subjects. In the Czech Republic, no study has yet mapped children's preconceptions about the functioning of the Internet; to our knowledge, a larger such study was carried out abroad almost 10 years ago (as concerns upper primary school children). The aim of the present work was to map preconceptions about the Internet among 5th and 9th grade students and then to examine their "correctness", i.e. whether they correspond to true statements about the Internet. The work includes a proposal for diagnosing erroneous preconceptions and instructional procedures for eliminating erroneous preconceptions. The research was conducted using the method of thematic and frequency analyses of semi-structured interviews conducted with 56 pupils (28 of whom were in grade 5 and 28 from grade 9) from different types of schools across the country. The results show that children's knowledge is rather incomplete, in about half of the cases rather structured, in the other half rather fragmented, at least in part. Occasionally they have wrong preconceptions,...