Just as artificial intelligence (AI) will never be able to fully replace human intelligence gathering, it also cannot supersede the benefit of face-to-face interview techniques. Learning how to conduct a successful interview is an essential tool every skilled investigator should master.
By interviewing witnesses in person or over the phone, investigators can gain new insights and information they otherwise would not have access to. In-person interactions also provide further opportunities to ask relevant follow-up questions or press the witness for more details. Trained investigators can even utilize body language or sentence structure techniques to determine if a witness is potentially being deceptive. Let’s take a deeper dive.
What is an interview? An interview is a conversation with a purpose and differs from an interrogation. It involves a conversation between two parties with the goal of gathering information and insights. It is not accusatory in nature and allows the interviewer to assess the subject’s credibility. A good interviewer utilizes what’s known as “active listening” and attempts to gather as much information as possible from the subject.
An interrogation is a more intense questioning process, often intended to extract a confession from the witness or subject. It’s essential to come to the interview prepared to ask questions, armed with the facts already available and with as much knowledge as possible.
Ultimately, the goal of the interview is to ascertain the five W’s and one H: the who, what, when, where, why and how of a particular situation or event. In some cases, you may need to interview multiple people to obtain the information you need.
Rapport Building
Rapport is the connection between you and another person (the person you are interviewing). The goal of rapport is to achieve a mutual level of respect, trust, and competence to positively influence the interviewee’s behavior to the extent that they are willing to speak openly and honestly. Being prepared in advance can help build rapport by presenting yourself as someone in command of the facts, competent, and trustworthy. Rapport building is not a superficial task but an essential element to ensure a successful interview.
Empathy and respect are the cornerstones of rapport building. Empathy is the ability to put yourself in the interviewee’s shoes, to understand their perspective, and to genuinely care about their experiences and feelings.
During the interview, good communication is vital to success. Maintain eye contact, listen actively, and ask open-ended questions that encourage in-depth responses.
Active Listening
Active listening is a key communication skill that involves absorbing the information someone shares with you and reflecting it back—ensuring that you heard and understood the subject—through questions and body language. It requires mastering many skills, including reading body language and tone of voice, maintaining attention, and being aware of and controlling your emotional response.
The purpose of active listening is to help the interviewer establish rapport, gather information and encourage conversation, and calm emotions while controlling the overall tone of the interview.
Active listening is not geared towards winning but towards asking open-ended questions to obtain information from a source. Remember, this is not an argument but a conversation.
Behavioral Analysis
Behavioral analysis is a technique used by highly trained investigators to determine whether someone is likely telling the truth or being deceptive. The basis of behavioral analysis is that our bodies are hardwired to tell the truth, so when we’re not telling the truth, we give off clues through our body language, facial expressions, and even phrasing.
Potential forms of deception include an asymmetrical body, inappropriate head shaking, moving hands outside of the body space, sticking out one’s tongue, shoulder popping, or giving a contemptuous smile.
Statement analysis is a technique used to determine whether a subject is telling the truth or being deceptive based on linguistic indicators. This includes information given both verbally and in a written statement. It is an integral part of behavioral analysis. Some fundamental statement analysis indicators include the subject’s lack of conviction, use of extraneous information, changing the tense and pronouns, and answering a question with a question.
Mastering interviewing techniques is both a skill and an art involving verbal and non-verbal information gathering. Conducting an effective interview can provide key insights and information that may not be available otherwise during an investigation.
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Withum’s Investigative and Corporate Intelligence Services Team is here to answer your questions about how an interview can help further your investigation.
