Psychological testing and assessment methods

¶ … Testing

Interview validity can be compromised by ignorance of potential ethnic, cultural, or class-based factors. For example, the interviewer may become blinded by self-fulfilling prophesies, and the interview questions themselves may be biased toward certain ethnic, cultural, or socio-economic groups. For example, if an interviewer holds deeply-rooted prejudice against African-Americans, he or she may prejudge the respondent's answers or filter the answers through a biased perspective. Furthermore, questions that are posed to the subject may not take into account the unique experiences and worldviews of the interview subject. For instance, some interview questions pose moral or ethical dilemmas that different cultural groups handle differently. Similarly, some interview questions assume that the respondent comes from a highly educated white upper-class background. Furthermore, interview techniques themselves: body language; role playing; and the overall attitude of the interviewer may be culturally, ethnically, or class-biased. Some respondents perform better when the interviewer takes on an authoritative role, while others perform better in a more egalitarian setting. Cross-cultural, cross-ethnic, and cross-class factors can undermine interview validity. Because of potential mitigating factors of the interviewing process, psychologists and counselors must be aware of ways to conduct interviews fairly and with respect to all people.

The interviewer can modify interview approach, techniques, and questions in order to prevent compromising the interview's validity. First, the interviewer must take care when questioning subjects from ethnic, cultural, or class backgrounds that are different from their own. Ideally, interviewers will be knowledgeable and aware of the specific communication techniques, themes, and motifs that are meaningful to the individual based on his or her background. Interview questions can be easily modified to reflect and respect the interviewee's background: for instance, rather than asking a person about their parents' level of educational attainment, the interviewer might want to begin by ascertaining whether the interviewee's parents had attended college in the first place. Finally, the interview setting must take into account cross-cultural, cross-class and cross-ethnic communication styles, keeping in mind that some cultures prefer stricter role differentiation than others, or some socio-economic groups might prefer less formal, less academic language used during the interview process. All amendments to the interview questions, process, and technique will eliminate bias and enhance interview validity.