The Standardized Interview in Social Work Research

See, for example, Hyman Herbert H. , Interviewing in Social Research, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1954; Robert L. Kahn and Charles F. Cannell, The Dynamics of Interviewing, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1957; Eleanor E. Maccoby and Nathan Maccoby, “The Interview: A Tool of Social Science,” in Handbook of Social Psychology, Gardner Lindzey (ed.), Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., Reading, Massachusetts, 1954, pp. 449–87; David Riesman and Mark Benney (eds.), “The Interview in Social Research,” American Journal of Sociology, Vol. LXII, September 1956 (entire issue); Claire Selltiz and others, Research Methods in Social Relations (rev. ed.), Henry Holt and Co., New York, 1959.

Maccoby , and Maccoby , op. cit., p. 449.

See Wasser Edna , “The Caseworker as Research Interviewer in Follow-up Studies,” Social Casework, Vol. XXXVIII, October 1957, p. 423.

See Caplow Theodore , “The Dynamics of Information Interviewing,” American Journal of Sociology, Vol. LXII, September 1956, p. 165, for the distinction between therapeutic and information interviews.

Fanshel David , “Studying the Role Performance of Foster Parents,” Social Work, Vol. VI, January 1961, pp. 74–81; Ludwig L. Geismar, “Some Problems in Practice-Oriented Research,” Social Work, Vol. VI, October 1961, pp. 50–56; Harris K. Goldstein, “Making Practice More Scientific Through Knowledge of Research,” Social Work, Vol. VII, July 1962, pp. 108–112; Edna Wasser, op. cit., pp. 423–30; Harold D. Werner, “Contribution of Social Work Practitioners on a Research Team,” Social Work, Vol. VI, October 1961, pp. 57–64.

Social Casework, 1956–62; Social Service Review, 1956–62; Social Work, 1956–62.

See, for example, Smith Eugenia V. , “Field Interviewing of Problem Drinkers,” Social Work, Vol. IV, October 1959, pp. 80–86; Edna Wasser, “Research Interviewing in Social Work Research: Some Formulations,” Social Service Review, Vol. XXXVI, September 1962, pp. 286–94; see also Geismar, op. cit., p. 56; Wasser, “The Caseworker as Research Interviewer in Follow–up Studies, op. cit., p. 423; Werner, op. cit. p. 59.

For an example of the use of a nonclient sample, see Blenkner Margaret , “Control Groups and the ‘Placebo Effect’ in Evaluative Research.” Social Work, Vol. VII, January 1962, pp. 52–58.

Neighborhood Study. School of Social Service, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, 1962 (mimeographed).

See Greenwood Ernest , “Social Work Research: The Role of the Schools,” Social Service Review, Vol. XXXII, June 1958, pp. 152–66, for discussion of group projects and their usefulness in research training; see also Martin E. Danzig, “The Team Approach in Conducting Student Research Projects,” Social Casework, Vol. XLIII, July 1962, pp. 372–75.

The advantages and limitations of the social survey in studying social needs are discussed in Maas Henry S. , and Wolins Martin , “Concepts and Methods in Social Work Research,” in New Directions in Social Work, Kasius Cora (ed.). Harper & Brothers, New York, 1954, pp. 215–33.

Fellin Phillip , A Study of the Effects of Reference Group Orientations and Bureaucratic Careers on Neighborhood Cohesion, University of Michigan, 1962 (doctoral dissertation); Eugene Litwak, Primary Group Instruments of Social Control, Columbia University, New York, 1958 (doctoral dissertation).

Maccoby , and Maccoby , op. cit., p. 451.

See Cannell Charles F. , and Axelrod Morris , “The Respondent Reports on the Interview.” American Journal of Sociology, Vol. LXII, September 1956, pp. 177–81.

Caplow , op. cit., p. 170.

Fanshel David , “A Study of Caseworkers' Perceptions of Their Clients,” Social Casework, Vol. XXXIX, December 1958, pp. 543–51; Helen Harris Perlman, “Intake and Some Role Considerations,” Social Casework, Vol. XLI, April 1960, pp. 171–77.

See Dexter Lewis Anthony , “Role Relationships and Conceptions of Neutrality in Interviewing.” American Journal of Sociology, Vol. LXII, September 1956, p. 153.

See Wasser , “The Caseworker as Research Interviewer in Follow-up Studies,” op. cit., p. 423.

See Wasser , “The Caseworker as Research Interviewer in Follow-up Studies,” op. cit., pp. 425–26, for a discussion of research interviewing ethics; see also Wasser, “Research Interviewing in Social Work Research: Some Formulations,” op. cit., p. 292, for a discussion of “motivating the interviewee to participate,” a phrase perhaps more acceptable to social work students than the term persuasion.

Maas Henry S. , and Polansky Norman A. , “Collecting Original Data,” in Social Work Research, Polansky Norman A. (ed.). University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1960, p. 148.

Caplow , op. cit., p. 167, states that the interviewer should pursue the questioning until “no significant ambiguities exist for him.”