ground zero in workplace investigations: advanced

Ground Zero in WorkplaceInvestigations:

Advanced Interview TechniquesACHRO/EEO FALL 2013 INSTITUTE

Amy OppenheimerAmy Oppenheimer

Workplace Investigations & Training,

Oakland, California

Keith Rohman

Public Interest Investigations, Inc.

Los Angeles, California

• The interview is where it all happens; it isground zero in the investigation.

• Strong interview skills get:• Strong interview skills get:

omore details,

omore specifics,

omore truthful information.

2013©Public Interest Investigations,Inc.; The Truth Matters ®

• Interviewing witnesses is like improv theater.

• One thing you can count on:

o They are not happy to see you.

• But with the right skills, preparation and approach

o You can be effective.

Interview Techniques

• Investigative perspective

– When you conduct an interview,

• you become a participant in the events you are investigating

• So the perspective you bring is important


• Your perspective can shape your investigation

–Questions can shape answers– Loftus study:

• Do you get headaches occasionally,

– and if so how often?» Average response: .7 headaches per week» Average response: .7 headaches per week

• Do you get headaches frequently,

– and if so how often?» Average response: 2.2 headaches per week


– Different verbs get different answers:

– What speed were the cars going when– What speed were the cars going whenthey ______ each other?

• “Contacted” = 31.8 mph

• “Hit” = 34.0 mph

• “Bumped” = 38.1mph

• “Collided” = 39.3 mph

• “Smashed” = 40.8 mph2013©Public Interest Investigations,

Inc.; The Truth Matters ®

• Investigators have biases and prejudices– Related to their work as investigators– We all have them


• Bias towards my employer or my client

• Bias against delivering bad news

– As in “don’t shoot the messenger.”

EXAMPLES OF INVESTIGATOR BIASES

• Bias against chronic complaint filers, or whiners

• Bias against bad employees or ones with pendingdiscipline


What is the one bias we all have?

• A bias towards anythingthat makes our job easier.that makes our job easier.


Our Limited Vision

• Our brains focus on certain things and not others.

• We cannot take in everything we see and hear.

• We make assumptions and fill in things.• We make assumptions and fill in things.

• Assumptions are shaped by

• our history, culture, class, identity, etc.

What does this have to do with interviewing?

It impacts our focus, what we ask about and how we processthat information!

Assumptions about what we hear


Limits to Our VisionWatch the video and

count how many timescount how many times

a white-shirted player

passes the ball

to another white-shirted player.

The Implicit Association Test

• Taken by over two million of people.

• Subjects first rate themselves on how theyview their own biases.

• Subjects then take the IAT.• Subjects then take the IAT.

• There is a significant difference between thetwo ratings.

• People have far more bias than they realize.See: www.implicit.harvard.edu

Greenwald, Anthony G. & Krieger, Linda Hamilton, Implicit Bias: ScientificFoundations, 94 California Law Review 945 (2006).

Implications for hiring:Names on Resumes

Identical resumes were submitted in response tohelp wanted ads. The only differences were thenamesnames

Some were submitted with traditionally AfricanAmerican names (e.g. Tamika Jones) – others withtraditionally white names (e.g. Emily Ryan).

The white names received 50 percent moreresponses across the board.Bertrand, M. and Mullainathan, Sendhil, Are Emily and Greg More Employablethan Lakisha and Jamal, A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination, TheAmerican Economic Review, 94(4), 1-31 (2004)

Implications for hiring:Names on Resumes

Raters were asked to evaluate recent PhDgraduates for an assistant professor position. Theresumes were the same but for half having afemale name and half having a male name.female name and half having a male name.

Result? 79% deemed the male was worthy ofhire and 49% deemed the female worthy of hire.

And there were 4X as many “doubt rating”comments for the female applicant (e.g. – “Iwould need to see proof of scholarship.”)

Implications for hiring:Nonverbal Behavior and Race

White interviewers were videotaped interviewingwhite and black job applicants. They:

– Spoke to and smiled more at the white applicants.– Spoke to and smiled more at the white applicants.

– Hesitated more and made more speech errorswhen speaking to the black applicant (leading tothe interviewee making speech errors due to“mirroring”).

– Sat further back, leaned away, gave shorterinterviews with the black applicants.

Nonverbal Behavior and Race

When white interviewers were trained toact towards the white applicants the waythey had towards the black applicants, thethey had towards the black applicants, thewhite applicants performed worse, weremore uncomfortable and judged the whiteinterviewer to be less friendly.

Word, Carl O., Zanna, Mark P. and Cooper, Joel, The Nonverbal Mediation of Self-FulfillingProphecies in Interracial Interaction, 10 J. Experimental Soc. Psychol. 109 (1974).McConnell, A. R., & Leibold, J. M. (2001). Relations Between the Implicit Association Test,Explicit Racial Attitudes, and Discriminatory Behavior, Journal of Experimental SocialPsychology, 37, 435–442.

Confirmation Bias

• Tendency to bolster ahypothesis by seekingconsistent evidence whileminimizing inconsistentminimizing inconsistentevidence

• Done unconsciously

• Impacts how we interpretinformation

Confirmation Bias

Fingerprint experts were lesslikely to find a match when factsprovided about the case made aprovided about the case made amatch seem less probable.

Dror, I. E., Charlton, D., & Person, A. E., Contextual Information RendersExperts Vulnerable to Making Erroneous Identifications, Forensic ScienceInternational (2006)

Confirmation Bias

• Participants were asked to form a hypothesis of guiltbefore reviewing all the evidence in a case.

• Doing so caused them to look for reasons to find thisperson guilty, even when evidence tending to exoneratethe individual was introduced.the individual was introduced.

• Some participants were then asked to explain why theinitial hypothesis might be wrong.

• Others were asked to generate additional suspects.

• Those who named a suspect and considered why hemight be innocent showed less confirmation bias thanthose asked to name two additional suspects.

Reducing Confirmation BiasConclusions

Those who were asked early in the case to name asuspect and state why he might be guilty showed agreater tendency to confirm that hypothesis.However this was counteracted by explaining whyHowever this was counteracted by explaining whythis might be wrong.

O’Brien, Barbara, Prime Suspect: An Examination of Factors That

Aggravate and Counteract Confirmation Bias in Criminal Investigations,Psychology, Public Policy, and Law (2009).

How do we reduce bias?

• Getting comfortable with a wide range of people

• Finding a way to establish rapport with everyone

• Really listening to the response

• Thinking through different possible findings• Thinking through different possible findings

• Getting a second (or third) opinion

How can our interviewing techniquereduce bias?

• Using open-ended neutral questions

– Who

– What

– Where

– How

– And sometimes – Why?

Studies show investigators who ask open-ended questionsget more accurate information.

How can our interviewing techniquereduce bias?

• Avoiding telegraphing what we are thinking

– Yes, they can tell

– It impacts the interview

– And our first impressions may change over time

Acting as if . . .

By the end of the interview, do they know what you arethinking? If you answer that question no – and obtainedall the information you need - you’ve had a successfulinterview.

• Goal of interview technique– Participant-centered process

• Maximizing information obtained

• Minimizing negative fallout from investigation• Minimizing negative fallout from investigation

– The right environment• Let the witness pick the spot, if appropriate

• Some place reasonably private

– You should be ready• Tanned, ready and rested

• Prepared on content


Starting the interview

– Setting the right tone

– Treat people with respect and the world will openup to you.

• Lawyers don’t always do this well• Lawyers don’t always do this well

–Counter to their training

• How about law enforcement?

–They have a badge and a gun.


– How to start

• Internal investigations can be a relativelyformalized process.

– Sometimes more of a ritual than aninterview

– Use the pre-meeting

– Beginnings matter– Beginnings matter

• You can never talk too much aboutprocess.

• Be clear about who you are, and why youare there.

• Give headline version of what you areinvestigating.


• Once the interview gets started:

– Shakespeare’s version:

• "Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice."

– Another version:

•Shut up and listen!– Use an open, accepting tone

– Listen without discounting


Your interview plan:

• First off: have one!

• More than just a question list

• Think about who you are talking to, and what theirmotivations are.motivations are.

• Listen to their answers, and adjust your questions asneeded

– Use open ended questions

– Have a well organized, but flexible, plan


Practice Tips:

• Let the witness answer fully.– Try never to interrupt or suggest an answer

• Keep questions short, clear and concise.– Only one question at a time.

• Repeating back information• Repeating back information

• Note if they show emotions, like anger, tears,or use non responsive grunts or gestures.

• Remain neutral in your questions anddemeanor.


• Dealing with requests togo “off the record.”

• Nothing is really off the record if it is important to yourcase

Off the Record?

• Never guarantee you will keep it confidential

• Tell witnesses you will do everything you can tominimize their involvement


Hearsay

• Dealing with hearsay

• Collect all you can.

• Worry aboutadmissibility later

• Hearsay = Leads


–Lower your expectations!

–Try to put them at ease as much aspossible

– You want their side of the story

– Treat them with respect

Interview the Subject

– Treat them with respect

– Give them the headline-version of thestory.

– Dealing with union or otherrepresentatives

– Dealing with hostility and questions


• Interview question drafting– Start with softball questions

• Non-controversial, non-sensitive, routine– How long have you worked/lived here?

– What’s your full name?

– What’s your job title?

– Maybe some irrelevant questions or comments to loosen them up

– Open ended questions– Open ended questions• Tell me what happened?

• What do you remember?

– The more sensitive the subject, the more carefullyyou approach it.

– Get the chronology


• Avoid labels

• Use the all-purpose question

– How do you know that?– How do you know that?

– HDYKT?

• Don't go away without asking the key question.


• Quantify things• When someone says, "He does that all the time."

» Ask, “How often?”

• When someone says, "I've worked with him for years."

» Ask, “How many years?”

• When someone says, "I've never seen him do that."

– Ask, “How long have you worked with him? “How often areAsk, How long have you worked with him? How often areyou on shift together?”

– In other words, what period of time does "never" cover?


• Ask questions about who else saw or heard things.

• Have your case-specific questions ready.

• Wrap up questions: ask these at every interview.

– Is there anything else I should know or beaware of?

– Is there anyone else you think I should talkto?


• End of interview revelations


Dealing with investigator burn-out

• A real problem when you havebeen at this for years

• Can impact quality of your work

• Communicates to the participants


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