Interview Rapport: Demise of a Concept

In: Public opinion quarterly: journal of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, Band 39, Heft 4, S. 529-543

Abstract

Rapport between interviewer & R is a factor thought to have an impact on the quantity & quality of information obtained in a personal interview. Few empirical studies exist, however; & sources reporting contradictory conclusions on the relationships between rapport & other variables (interviewer & R characteristics, properties of the interview) entering the interview situation can be located. After explaining the measures used, data are analyzed from 619 interviews conducted with Ind suburban & Ru residents. Contrary to a previous study using the same operational measures, rapport is directly related to previous interviewer experience; a brief explanation for this difference is delineated, with differential SS between R & interviewer as a key factor. Using regression analysis, rapport score is not strongly related to interviewer characteristics, R characteristics, nor structural properties of the interview; thus, rapport is not influenced by factors usually thought to be active biasing agents in interviewing situations. Interviewer perceptions, however, provide more efficient predictors of rapport; these perceptions could themselves be used as operational measures of rapport considering the looseness of previous definitions. Raport then is moved from the dependent variable category & examined as an independent measure contributing to interviewer performance. Rapport & interviewer performance are related positively, but the portion of total variance explained by rapport is extremely limited. Because rapport is not strongly related to other interview variables, further studies of the concept may be relatively useless unless agreement on a conceptual & operational definition can be reached. Modified AA.