Narratives in Interviews
- An effective interviewing technique is one where the interviewer encourages the interviewee to tell a narrative.
- When multiple interviewees tell the same narrative, the material differences and variances—and the similarities—can enlighten the investigators’ adjustments to case planning.
- Narrative interviewing especially requires the private investigator to sublimate his or her ego, and to be non-challenging and supportive of the interviewee—even if the interviewee is the subject of the investigation and a person who is known to have committed significant wrongdoing.
- A good way to keep interview questions non-challenging is for the investigator to take the blame for misunderstanding an answer.
- The investigator might say: “I’m really sorry, and this is totally on me, but I’m confused about that—could you help me out and elaborate?” or “I’m really not as experienced as you are in this area—could you talk about that a little more and just explain to me how it works?”