If you watch any crime shows like CSI or The Mentalist, you’ve heard people peppered with questions about where they’ve been, who they’ve seen, or what they know. The interviewers are trying to obtain information from witnesses and suspects (Jundi, Vrij, Hope, Mann, & Hillman, 2013) by collecting attitudes, opinions, facts, data, and experiences through an information-gathering interview. We take part in, or are exposed to, the results of such interviews every day; perhaps you’ve compiled a survey about experiences with campus parking, or maybe you’ve interviewed your communication professor about career possibilities. In all these instances, the interview serves to transfer knowledge from one party to the other.

Information-gathering interviews can have different variations. Did your computer freak out and delete all of your programs? Have you ever found unauthorized charges on your credit card bill? If so, you are probably intimately familiar with “help desks” or customer service lines. Representatives contacted at these organizations will conduct service-oriented interviews or helping interviews designed to cull information and provide advice, service, or support based on that information.

Many television and radio shows involve interviews dealing with politics, crime, governments, the military, international events, weather, and sports. These media interviews seek to get information about people and events and sometimes analyze the information or express opinions and emotions. Sports interviews provide a good example. On-field (court) interviews with coaches and athletes capture their emotions in the heat of the win or the defeat, whereas the official postgame interviews provide more predictable, controlled answers. A 2013 on-field interview with Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman illustrated the possible pitfalls with court interviews; Sherman’s on-air rant against an opponent revealed his personal emotion but overshadowed the team’s win that advanced the Seahawks to the Super Bowl. Often media interviews occur in the talk-show format. The Golf Channel’s Feherty features retired professional golfer and television analyst David Feherty interviewing famous golfers as if they’re on The View, Dr. Phil, the Ellen DeGeneres Show, or the late night shows.

Although all types of interviews involve information gathering to some extent, we’ll look next at other types of interviews with unique additional qualities.