Using structured interviewing techniques

Preface GAO assists congressional decisionmakers in their deliberative process by furnishing analytical information on issues and options under consideration. Many diverse methodologies are needed to develop sound and timely answers to the questions that are posed by the Congress. To provide GAO evaluators with basic information about the more commonly used methodologies, GAO's policy guidance includes documents such as methodology transfer papers and technical guidelines. This methodology transfer paper on using structured interviewing techniques discusses how GAO evaluators should incorporate structured interview techniques when appropriate to performing our work. It explains when these techniques should be used and what steps should be followed. Overall, it describes techniques for designing a structured interview, for pretesting, for training interviewers, and for conducting the interviews. Using Structured Interviewing Techniques is one of a series of papers issued by the Program Evaluation and Methodology Division (PEMD). The purpose of the series is to provide GAO evaluators with guides to various aspects of audit and evaluation methodology, to illustrate applications, and to indicate where more detailed information is available.