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needed in this study. The interviewer should study carefully the questions and their explanations in order that he is very familiar with the wording of the questions and knows exactly the information which each is designed to obtain. This is very important inasmuch as the interviewer will want to ask each question very much as it has been formulated, yet without sounding as if he had memorized it. As an aid to the interviewer we have prepared an "Interviewer's Guide" for use during each interview. This is simply a list of the questions and brief reminders of the essential information to be obtained from each. Interviewers may feel more secure by having this guide during the interview, perhaps making an explanation to the interviewee such as the following:
"I think I can let you know most clearly the kinds of things we are after if I just ask these questions which I have here."
This purpose of these standard questions if to establish clearly the specific area in which information is desired. It is natural, however, to expect that interviewers may have to repeat questions or elaborate somewhat upon their first statement of the question which it does not produce an adequate response. The standardized questions should touch off the first spark and the interviewee then should begin to respond. The interviewer at this point, however, cannot just sit back and listen. His function now is to encourage the interviewee to elaborate certain points, to give additional details and sometimes even to get back on the subject when he has strayed a little. All of this is accomplished by the responses of the interviewer to the statements of the interviewee.
3. Interviewer's Responses. When an interviewee seems to be responding adequately to a question, the interviewer should need only to display his genuine interest by an occasional "I see" or "Uh-huh." It is most important for an interviewee to feel he is being understood--not just "listened-to." This can be displayed if the interviewer occasionally makes a kind of restatements of the essential aspects of what the interviewee is expressing, such as: