Step 7: Allow the participant sufficient time to think and respond to interview questions, use silence or follow-up probe questions to elicit in-depth responses, and communicate neutral interest.

The job of the interviewer is to guide the participant to give answers that are sufficiently informative and authentically reflect the participant's thinking and views. There are several components to creating such a situation.

First, create a feeling of calm during the interview. Assuming that the interview protocol is of an appropriate length (see Preparing an Interview Protocol) and that there is sufficient time to conduct the interview, nonverbally communicate the sense that "we have plenty of time to talk, so there's no need to rush." This can be done by asking questions clearly and slowly, and by following questions with several seconds of silence ("wait time") to give the participant time to think.

A second component to drawing out the best possible answers from a participant is knowing when and how to probe for clarification or greater depth. Some participants may talk so much that you need to refocus them, reminding them that you have a number of important questions yet to cover and that the answers should be more concise. However, it is much more likely that you will encounter participants who give incomplete answers. If silence doesn't prompt more information, then you need to use probes. Specific techniques for probes are presented in Step 3 of Preparing an Interview Protocol.

A third component of an atmosphere conducive to good answers is to communicate neutrality. Although it might seem tempting at first to compliment the participant for answers, this runs the risk of implying that you favor his or her views — which, in turn, might lead the participant to make more "socially desirable" responses that don't necessarily reflect the complexity of his or her thinking. Thus, rather than give the participant a sense that you approve or disapprove of anything said, it is far preferable to communicate a general sense of supporting him or her in the process of the interview. You can communicate this support by maximizing eye contact, staying very alert to what is said, and keeping your own comments to a minimum. When you do make an occasional comment, refrain from statements like "What a great idea!" A comment like "That's helpful" is more appropriate because you are affirming the participant's sharing of ideas rather than affirming the content of the idea.

A good way to establish your neutral stance as an interviewer is to spend time before beginning any interviews thinking about the topics to be covered. Reflect on whether you yourself have strong opinions, definite leanings, or feelings about these topics. If you can identify these views, you stand a better chance of making sure that you do not interject them into your dialogue with participants. Let's say, for example, that you are interviewing several principals who head charter schools in a large school district. Before you begin these interviews, you realize that you are extremely skeptical of charter schools. Thus, you decide you will make an extra effort not to let any of your views surface during the interview, either in the comments you make or in the kind of probing you do (e.g., you refrain from extra probing when asking about difficulties experienced by charter schools). If a participant were to ask you during the interview what your own views were about charter schools, you would say something like "It's really not appropriate for me to share my own opinions about this because the purpose of the interview is to solicit the range of ideas and thoughts from people such as yourself."