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Running Head: INTERVIEW PERFORMANCE OF INTROVERTS 1
Major Assignment 2
The Differing Interview Performance of Introverts and Extroverts
Jayme Keefer
Queens University of Charlotte
12 April 2016
INTERVIEW PERFOMANCE OF INTROVERTS 2
Question
To apply the existing knowledge of personality differences of extroverts and introverts to
the workplace, I plan to explore the question of whether or not female introverts perform
differently than extroverts in structured panel behavioral interview situations. Performance can
be defined in a number of ways that often are specific to the context in which the participant is
being interviewed. For example, the criteria for a job interview for an accounting position would
include objective competencies such as the number of years of experience or performance scores
on certification examinations.
However, the purpose of this research is to focus less on technical competencies and
more so on behavioral responses to the interview process itself. Given this, I plan to define
performance as a quantifiable score for a list of common behavioral indicators. These scores will
be given by a series of interviewers based on their impression of the interviewees’ behavior.
Relevance
This topic is highly relevant to the human resources field. These professionals are
responsible for finding, retaining, and developing talent for their organization. To do this, they
must be well-versed in hiring practices that allow them to locate the candidate that best fits the
requirement of the position for which they are being hired.
With the complications of personality differences, simple personal preferences can be
misinterpreted as indicators of work ethic or qualifications. Typical interviews often judge a
candidate’s qualifications and personality preferences. While these may be simple topics for an
extroverted person to address, talking about oneself to a stranger is a true challenge for an
introvert. The traits often looked for in interviews are traits inherent for extroverts and
uncomfortable for introverts.
I personally experienced a disadvantage in an interview because of my natural personality
as an introvert. In a follow-up meeting about my interview for a research grant program, I was
told that I was more qualified than the other candidates, but the interviewing committee rejected
me because I spoke too softly and took too long to answer questions. These seemed like
ridiculous reasons to me and sparked an interest to discover if other introverts experience similar
treatment in interviews.
Past Research
It appears that there is limited research making direct connections between introversion
and interview performance. Phillips and Bruch (1988) show how “shy” men value assertiveness
in job interviews, and this hopefully will shed some light on the issue. However, this research is
extremely limited to only men and their expectations in interviews. It does not analyze actual
performance. It is also quite outdated and thus in need of updating. My study would be recent,
limited to females, and evaluative of actual practical interview performance rather than
theoretical preferences.
INTERVIEW PERFOMANCE OF INTROVERTS 3
In terms of how interviewers evaluate candidates, research suggests an interviewer’s
perception of a candidate did not always correspond with their actual score of the candidate
(Akhuly & Gupta, 2014). They found that interviewers were highly unlikely to agree with one
another about their overall impressions of potential candidates and they often believe they scored
individuals differently than they actually did. Again, this research does not immediately make
the connection I am striving to make, but it will hopefully provide insight into how interviewers
evaluate personality. Such perception biases will be accounted for in the evaluation rubric and be
addressed in follow-up focus group questions. One way to explore this phenomenon is to ask
“What scores do you believe you gave Interviewee A?” followed by me showing them their
actual score and then asking “Why do you think there is (or is not) a difference in these scores?”
There is some research, however, that may prove more useful in looking at how well an
interviewer can assess the personality of a person in a structured interview setting. Research
from Clemson University suggests that structured interviews with standard questions could be
detrimental to an interviewer accurately determining an interviewee’s personality traits (Van
Iddekinge, Raymark, Roth, 2001). This research, while not specifically referencing introversion
or extroversion, will certainly prove useful in establishing the flawed nature of structured
interviews. Further research will need to be conducted on how introverts respond to such
objective questions. This further research will inform how interviewer participants are briefed
before the experiment scenario and will provide topics of discussion for the interviewee focus
groups.
Common Methods
In the mentioned studies, the data was collected by means of evaluative criteria on
objective, numerical scales where potential interviewees were asked to either rate their
preference for an activity on a Likert-esque scale or potential interviewers gave a high or low
score for a candidate in four categories.
Similarly, I would use a rating system to objectively gauge interviewees’ and
interviewers’ behavior and responses. However, I plan to go further by using qualitative follow-
up interviews to account for more complex observations, insights, and explanations.
For personality assessment instruments, I initially considered using the Myers-Briggs
Type Indicator (MBTI) or the Keirsey Temperament Sorter. However, past research has surfaced
other personality instruments I will consider using including the NEO Personality Inventory from
the Van Iddekinge, Raymark, Roth (2001) study which bases assessments on the Big Five
personality traits. Given that there is a 74 percent correlation between the scores given for
extroversion on the Big Five and the MBTI, either instrument will be useful in determining
whether a participant is more introverted or extroverted (Development Edge Consulting, 2000).
A potential problem with this assessment is its classification of participants as either more
extroverted or less extroverted rather than a more categorical approach like the MBTI which
measures participants as either more introverted or more extroverted. The NEO’s lack of the
term “introversion” may cause issues, but a final decision on instrumentation will not be made
until the validity and reliability of all potential instruments have been evaluated.
INTERVIEW PERFOMANCE OF INTROVERTS 4
Contribution to the Body of Work
As stated, the existing research does not test any direct correlation between introversion
and interview performance. My research could be one of the first in the human resources field to
make this direct correlation and provide applicable considerations for hiring professionals in the
future. Such information could provide organizations with the understanding of personality
differences needed to make more educated hiring decisions. Without such research, simple
personality preferences could be misinterpreted as indicators of poor work habits and may
prevent an ideal candidate from being hired. If professionals have this understanding of how
different types of people perform in interviews, they can be more sensitive to these behaviors and
make hiring and professional development decisions that are more beneficial long-term.
Theoretical Lens
While more potential lenses may become applicable as research continues, I plan to use
the lenses of Mead’s theory of symbolic interactionism and Jung’s theory of temperaments.
Symbolic interactionism refers to the co-construction of reality when two or more participants
engage in a communication activity. This is applicable to the research in its explanation of how
two strangers develop impressions of each other as they interact and how individual personality
preferences may influence one’s judgement of another person. The theory of temperament will
illuminate the differences in behavior and expectation of introverts and extroverts. This lens
acknowledges that the classifications are not mutually exclusive, but rather a person leans in one
direction or the other depending on the situation. This flexible lens supports my decision to use
follow-up interviews with participants to explore the complexities of the interview interactions.
The historic significance of this lens also lends credence to my study and encourages modern
application of a highly regarded concept.
Methods
To test my hypothesis that introverts perform differently than extroverts in structured
interview settings, I plan to take an explanatory sequential mixed methods approach. An
experiment will first be conducted to test the scenario. From the experiment, quantitative data
will be collected to then be elaborated upon during focus groups with participants to gain further
insight into perceptions of the process.
Experiment. The first method will be an experiment. I will sample traditional
undergraduate students at Queens University of Charlotte to result in a sample size of
approximately 100-150 female students. I will then electronically administer to these students a
personality assessment to determine their level of introversion and extroversion (Appendix A).
The instrument for this first piece of data will be the Myers Briggs Type Indicator due to its
common use in human resources hiring practices. For each numbered set, participants will
choose between two given statements about their preferences. Each statement are designed to
align with the personality preferences of either an introvert or an extrovert. Statements in
Column A indicate extroversion while statements in Column B indicate introversion. The
pairings of these statements will be randomized as will the order of the numbered sets. Based on
these assessments, I will separate students into categories of introverts or extroverts if they score
INTERVIEW PERFOMANCE OF INTROVERTS 5
a five or higher on the preference clarity index (PCI) which should roughly equate to at least 20
percent on either side of the Ambivert Personality Continuum Scale (CPP, 2015 & Sol, 2012).
There is a strong chance I will have a nearly equal number of participants in each personality
category as approximately 49.3 percent of the United States population are considered extroverts
and 50.7 percent are considered introverts (Myers Briggs Foundation, 2016). I will then use
stratified sampling to ask an equal number of introverts and extroverts to then participate in the
full experiment. In addition to these categories, I will stratify the sample by year in college and
major to minimize a biased sample. This stratified sample should result in 16 to 20 students total
with 8 to 10 in each personality category.
The students will then be asked to participate in a structured panel interview simulation
with questions often used in behavioral interviews (Appendix B). The order of the interview
questions will be randomized for each interviewee (Appendix C). In the interview, interviewees
will be asked to describe past situations where they exhibited different characteristics
(Armstrong, 2008). These types of questions are designed to assess applicant abilities by “(1)
determining how well you work under pressure, (2) finding out how well you work with others;
and (3) establishing whether you can resolve conflicts” (Marshall & Heffes, 2007, p. 11). In
other words, behavioral interviews should provide “insight on how a candidate’s mind operates”
(Eng, 1997). This makes a behavioral interview an appropriate scenario to use for this study. The
questions are designed to avoid skill-specific assessments that could interfere with the reliability
of responses.
As there will be several interview situations, I will limit the number of experiments to
four 20-minute interviews per day with 10 minute breaks in between each to encourage the
interviewer participants to focus closely on each interview and to not exhaust the interviewers.
The interview will ideally be conducted by a panel of either three randomly selected Queens
faculty or three members of the Queens internship staff. However, if this is not feasible, each day
of interviews will be conducted by a unique set of two interviewers. All interviewer participants
will be asked to take the same MBTI assessment to ensure the interviewers are not
disproportionately one type or another. These results will not be directly included in the data
analysis process but may serve useful in identifying potential trends or biases in rubric scores.
Before interviews begin, all interviewer participants will participate in a training or
briefing session regarding how to properly conduct the interviews to ensure consistency and
clarity (Appendix D). Interviewers will be asked to assess only the behavior of the candidate and
not the content of the responses. Interviewers will not know which interviewee participants are
introverts or extroverts to minimize bias. They will record their impressions of the interviewee
on a rubric with criteria culminated from other behavior-based rubrics. I will also be present in
the room making notes and the interview will be recorded on video for future reference and
analysis. All participants will sign a release form before the experiment begins allowing me to
record their interactions.
The rubrics will contain criteria based on research concerning typical measures of
behavior in structured interview settings. Research results included findings from the United
States Office of Personnel Management (2008) and common human resources blogs (Sandberg,
INTERVIEW PERFOMANCE OF INTROVERTS 6
2012). I drafted a basic rubric that is subject to changes (Appendix E). Sandberg’s (2012) article
suggested having interviewers weight the importance of each criterion so that some behaviors
will be given more of an influence in the total scores. While the inclusion of the weighting may
be helpful in practical interview scenarios, it will only add unnecessary complexity to my data.
However, I have chosen to include the weighting category in my sample rubric. This weighting
will not affect interviewee scores, but will be used in analyzing any differences in interviewer
perceptions of interviewees. Given the complexity, this aspect may be later removed from the
study but will be included for now.
Given that the rubric is not a standard instrument but rather a culmination of other
instruments, I may experience difficulties with validity and reliability. Ideally, I would have the
time and resources to first test and strengthen my instrument before beginning my experiment,
but this may not be possible given the time and resource constraints.
Other challenges may involve approval of my experiment by the Queens University of
Charlotte Internal Review Board. It is less common for students to conduct experiments rather
than simple surveys, interviews, or focus groups, so I may face some extra criticism for my
decision. However, I plan to address this issue by ensuring that my interview questions do not
contain personal questions that may make participants uncomfortable. I will also need to ensure
that interviewer participants sign confidentiality agreements prohibiting them from discussion
student behavior outside the structured experiment feedback process. With these precaution, I
will hopefully face minimal scrutiny from the review board.
Data from the rubrics will then be statistically analyzed. Overall scores will be calculated
as well as sectioned scores for sets of criteria such as body language, speech patterns, and overall
impression. These sections have not yet been added to the provided sample rubric (Appendix E).
Once scores have been calculated for each interviewee participant, they will be statistically
analyzed to provide a mean, standard deviation, and outliers for both the sample as a whole and
for the individual personality categories of introverts and extroverts. These two sets of
comparative statistics will show whether introverts as a whole score differently than extroverts as
a whole. If the means for these two groups do not show a statistically significant difference, then
the influence of personality type be shown to be negligible in structured interview settings and
my hypothesis will not be supported.
Focus Groups. Personality types and behavior in general are highly subjective and
quantitative data may not provide a full picture of what interactions and meanings are being
made in the situation. That said, I will be conducting focus groups with the interviewee
participants as well as an interviewer participant debrief session. The debrief session will be
made up of the three interviewer participants and will allow them to discuss with me and each
other their impressions of the interviewee participants and why they chose the scores they did.
This will provide insight into the meaning-making process from the interviewers’ perspective.
This debrief focus group will be structured and facilitated by me and will be video recorded for
future reference and objective analysis. Transcripts of this focus group will be written. The focus
group will take place a few days after each set of initial experiments to give participants a break
from the process and allow them to consider thoughtful responses before participating in the
INTERVIEW PERFOMANCE OF INTROVERTS 7
discussion. Focus group questions will be provided in advance to encourage participants to
consider their responses (Appendix F).
The interviewee participant focus groups will be conducted after all interviews have been
completed. At least two focus groups will be conducted, one for introverted interviewees and one
for extroverted interviewees. If the sample of participants is large enough, I may conduct two
focus groups for each personality type to ensure smaller discussion groups. Participants will
receive the questions and discussion topics in advance so they have the opportunity to reflect and
consider their responses (Appendix G). The focus groups will be facilitated by me and will be
video recorded. Transcripts of the focus groups will be generated. Questions will explore the
interviewees’ impressions of the experience. Focus group questions will be provided in advance
to encourage participants to consider their responses. They will not be informed of their
individual scores, but I will tell participants if there was a statistically significant difference
between the scores of the personality categories. I will then encourage them to discuss why the
results may have been this way. Such personal insights and explanations may provide
information I had not considered and will contribute to the depth of analysis.
INTERVIEW PERFOMANCE OF INTROVERTS 8
References
Akhuly, A. & Gupta, M. (2014). Competency based recruitment decisions: A lens model
approach. The Psychologist-Manager Journal, 17(4), 279-306.
Armstrong, S. (2008). How to master behavioral interviews. The Essential HR Handbook. Career
Press, Incorporated. ISBN: 1564149900.
CPP, Incorporated. (2015, Sept. 25). MBTI profile: College edition.
Development Edge Consulting Limited. (2000). Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Retrieved
from http://www.dec.co.th/mbti_explanation.htm.
Eng, S. (1997, May 26). For example: Stories, specifics help in behavioral job interview. St.
Louis Post – Dispatch. St. Louis, MO: Knight-Ridder Newspapers. Retrieved from
https://ezproxy.queens.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/4036539
80?accountid=38688.
Marshall, J. & Heffes, E. (2007, Nov.). Advice on mastering the behavioral interview. Financial
Executive (23)9. p. 11.
Myers Briggs Foundation. (2016). How frequent is my type. The Myers & Briggs Foundation.
Retrieved from http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/my-mbti-
results/how-frequent-is-my-type.htm.
Phillips, S. D. & Bruch, M. A. (1988). Shyness and dysfunction in career development. Journal
of Counseling Psychology, 35(2), 159-165.
Sandberg, A. (2012, Nov. 11). Rating scales commonly used in interviewing. Ready to Manage.
Retrieved from http://blog.readytomanage.com/rating-scales-commonly-used-in-
interviewing/.
Sol, M. (2012). Ambiversion: The lost personality type. Lonerwolf. Retrieved from
http://lonerwolf.com/ambivert/.
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. (2008, Sept.). Structured Interviews: A Practical Guide.
Van Iddekinge, Raymark, P, Roth P. L. (2001). Assessing personality with a structured
interview: The effect of faking and question type on interviewer ratings. ProQuest
Dissertation Publishing.
INTERVIEW PERFOMANCE OF INTROVERTS 9
Appendix A
Myers Briggs Type Indicator Introversion-Extroversion Cover Letter & Assessment
I am an undergraduate communication student at Queens University of Charlotte. With
the support of the James L. Knight School of Communication at Queens University of Charlotte,
I am conducting research concerning the influence of selected personality traits on the interview
performance of college females. The results of this research will be presented as part of my
Capstone and could have practical applications for human resources hiring and candidate
evaluation processes.
For the first stage of my research, I am asking full-time traditional undergraduate Queens
students to answer the following questions about their personality preferences. All results are
confidential and will only be reported as a mix of all responses. Your individual responses will
never be shared. As personality is a key element to this study, some questions may make you
uncomfortable. It is okay to skip questions you do not wish to answer.
Thank you in advance for your participation in this research. If you have any questions
about the study or the use of your responses, please contact me.
Jayme Keefer
Communication Major & Knight Scholar
Queens University of Charlotte ‘17
keeferj@queens.edu
INTERVIEW PERFOMANCE OF INTROVERTS 10
DIRECTIONS: Read over the following statements for each number and click on the statement
that is more like you.
Column A Column B
1. Project my energy outward, making my
actions easy for all to see.
Keep my energy inside, making it difficult
for others to know me.
2. Absorb myself in activities. Absorb myself in thought.
3. Focus outwardly toward activities and
action.
Focus inwardly toward thoughts and ideas.
4. Tolerate crowds and noise. Avoid crowds and seek quiet.
5. Be distracted easily. Concentrate well.
6. Meet new people easily. Proceed cautiously when meeting new
people and participate in selected activities.
7. Enjoy public places with lots going on. Enjoy private areas where I can be alone.
8. Get restless without involvement with
people.
Get agitated without enough time alone or
undisturbed.
9. Communicate outwardly with energy,
excitement, and enthusiasm with almost
anyone in the vicinity.
Keep my energy, enthusiasm, and
excitement to myself, unless I am sharing it
with someone I know well.
10. Respond quickly to questions. Take time to think before responding to
questions and outward events.
11. Communicate one-on-one and in groups
with equal ease and enjoyment.
Prefer communicating one-on-one.
12. Need to moderate myself in order to allow
others a chance to speak.
Need to be drawn out and invited by others
to speak.
13. Think out loud, interact with others, and in
the process reach my conclusions.
Reflect for a time before presenting my
conclusions to others.
14. Need to share my experiences with others
almost as soon as they happen.
Need to internally review my experiences
before sharing them with others.
15. Share personal information easily. Hesitate about sharing personal information.
16. Like having many acquaintances and
friendships in addition to my primary one.
Like knowing a few select people and favor
relating to only one individual deeply.
INTERVIEW PERFOMANCE OF INTROVERTS 11
17. Enter new friendships and relationships
easily.
Show caution in beginning new
relationships.
18. Talk about my relationships to others. Keep thoughts about my relationships to
myself.
19. Make contact with almost everyone at social
events.
Stick with a few people at social events.
20. Discuss any and all of my thoughts readily
with my partner.
Sort through my thoughts first before
sharing them—or keeping them to myself.
21. Become lonely quickly when I do not have
contact with others.
Tolerate loneliness well.
22. Share my personal space and time easily
with others.
Require my own personal space with plenty
of private time.
23. At parties, I usually stay late with increasing
energy.
At parties, I usually leave early with
decreased energy.
24. At work, I tend to become impatient and
bored when my work is slow and
unchanging.
At work, I tend to become impatient and
annoyed when my work is interrupted and
rushed.
25. Be focused equally on what is going on in
the office as well as with my work.
Be focused more on the work only and not
on what is going on in the office.
26. Enjoy phone calls as a welcome diversion. Find phone calls intrusive, especially when
trying to concentrate.
27. Develop my ideas through discussion. Develop my ideas through reflection.
28. Interaction with new people stimulates and
energizes me.
Interaction with new people taxes my
reserves.
29. I speak easily and at length with strangers. I find little to say to strangers.
30. I prefer to have many friends even though
our contact may be brief.
I prefer to have a few close friends with
long contact.
Controls
DIRECTIONS: Choose the response that most accurately describes you.
What is your gender? Male or Female
In what year were you born?
INTERVIEW PERFOMANCE OF INTROVERTS 12
What is your current year?
Freshman
Sophomore
Junior
Senior
Approximately how many times have you been interviewed?
0-5 times
6-10 times
11-15 times
Over 15 times
What is your race?
Caucasian
American Indian/Alaskan Native
Black/African American
Asian Indian
Other East Asian ______________
Japanese
Chinese
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander ____________________
This personality assessment is the first stage of my study. The second stage is a short interview
simulation. Would you be interested in being contacted to participate in the interview
simulation? Yes or No
If yes, what is your name?
If yes, what is your email?
INTERVIEW PERFOMANCE OF INTROVERTS 13
Appendix B
Recruitment Letter to Interviewee Participants
First of all, thank you for participating in the personality assessment portion of my study.
Your responses have been incredibly helpful and have allowed me to continue my research. You
have been selected to receive this email because you indicated on the survey sent in [month of
survey launch] that you would like to be contacted about participating in the short interview
simulation of the study.
For the simulation, you will be asked to participate in an interview as you normally
would. The interview will be conducted by two to three Queens faculty and will last only 20
minutes. The questions asked will not be specific to your personal skills or work experience but
rather encourage you to reflect on your past experiences concerning working with others,
leadership qualities, and other general topics. You do not need to prepare responses to these
questions in advance. There are no right or wrong answers.
As with the survey and personality assessment, your identity will be protected and your
results will be presented as a mix of results. I do not anticipate the questions being offensive or
uncomfortable to answer, but you may choose to not answer any question or leave the simulation
at any time.
Please email me by [date of response deadline] to let me know if you would like to
participate. If you would not like to participate, that is okay, but please still send me an email to
let me know. Should you choose to participate in the simulation, please indicate in your response
email which days of the week and times you would be available to participate in the 20 minute
interview. Once I receive an adequate number of responses, I will send all participants a date and
time to appear for the simulation.
For the simulation, please dress professionally and act as if you were on an interview for
a job or scholarship. Suits are not required, but please do not wear flip flops, sneakers, athletic
clothing, or other clothing that would not be appropriate in the workplace. If you have any
questions, please contact me.
Thank you for your time.
Jayme Keefer
Communication Major & Knight Scholar
Queens University of Charlotte ‘17
keeferj@queens.edu
INTERVIEW PERFOMANCE OF INTROVERTS 14
Appendix C
Sample Interview Questions
Neutral Questions
Give an example of a time when you were able to communicate successfully with another person
— even if that individual may not have personally liked you.
(measures communication skills p. 2*)
Describe a decision that you made within the last year that you’re very proud of.
(measures decision-making p. 3)
What personal qualities do you believe define you as a leader? Describe a situation when those
qualities helped you lead others.
(measures leadership p. 3)
What is most important to you in a job? What is least important to you?
(measures motivation p. 3)
Extrovert-Oriented Question
Describe a situation that required you to work under pressure and tell us how you reacted.
(measures ability to work under pressure p. 2)
Introvert-Oriented Question
Tell us about a time you planned and pulled off a complex assignment. (measures planning p. 4)
*(Questions selected from Armstrong, 2008)
INTERVIEW PERFOMANCE OF INTROVERTS 15
Appendix D
Training Script for Interviewer Participants
First of all, thank you for taking time out of your day and agreeing to participate in this
study. It means a lot to have the support of faculty and staff from so many areas of the university.
Today, you will be participating in a panel interview simulation. You will act as the
interviewer posing questions to four participants. Each interview will take 20 minutes with 10
minutes between candidates for you to write down your scores and comments. The participants
are full-time traditional undergraduate students at Queens and all are female. They have been
asked to treat this simulation as a professional interview for a job or scholarship.
The goal of this research is to examine the behavior of different types of students in
structured interview situations. For the sake of reducing bias, you will not know what personality
characteristics I am targeting in my research nor which students fall into which categories. You
are to treat every interviewee the same way. For each interviewee, you will receive a packet
containing a list of questions and an interview performance rubric.
Let’s first look at the questions. The questions are the same for each interviewee, but the
order has been randomized. These questions do not ask about specific skills or job experience
that could vary between interviewees. Instead, they are more generic questions that ask the
interviewee to recall, discuss, and reflect on experiences where they demonstrate characteristics
that may be beneficial in the workplace. For the sake of consistency, I ask that you stick to the
questions provided and do not ask your own questions, but you may ask basic questions to propel
the conversation such as “Can you tell me more about this?” or “Can you elaborate?” Are there
any questions at this point?
While the questions are designed to focus on personality, you are asked to evaluate
participants based less on the content of their answers and more on their physical and verbal
behavior. This brings us to the rubric. As you can see, the rubric is broken into four sections:
body language, verbal responses, personability, and overall evaluation. Body language refers to
the physical actions of the interviewee, verbal responses refer to the content and verbal delivery
of responses, personability refers to more nuanced elements of the interviewee’s presentation of
themselves, and overall evaluation is a more subjective and comprehensive impression you get
from the interviewee.
Each individual criteria also has its own expectation of good performance. [Read criteria
expectations definitions.] On the rubric, there are three types of responses you can give. First is
the criteria weighting. Here, please use the criteria weighting scale to rate how important you
think a particular criterion is for evaluating job applicants. These numbers are your own personal
opinion. A five means the criterion is vital for a candidate to have, four is very important, three is
important, two means it is an asset for candidates to have but it is not essential, and one means it
is only somewhat beneficial for a candidate to have. These scores are requested on all rubric
sheets, but you only need to record them on the rubric you complete for the first interviewee. The
INTERVIEW PERFOMANCE OF INTROVERTS 16
scores will have no weight on the interviewees’ scores but they may be used in later analysis.
Are there any questions at this point?
Some additional notes: While it is common in actual panel interviews to discuss your
impressions of candidates, I ask that you refrain from sharing answers for this simulation. I will
conduct a follow-up focus group for all interviewers to come together to share their experiences,
reflect on the results, and provide additional feedback. These focus group questions will be
provided to you at the end of today’s session so you can prepare to talk about your experiences.
Additionally, I will be in the room during today’s simulations taking my own observational
notes, but I will not actively participate in the interview process. My only interaction with you
and the interviewees will be to escort the interviewees in and out of the interview room.
Are there any final questions before we begin?
Thank you again for participating and let’s get started.
INTERVIEW PERFOMANCE OF INTROVERTS 17
Appendix E
Sample Interview Rubric
Criteria Weighting Candidate Assessment
5 – Vital 5 – Exceeds expectations
4 – Very important 4 – Meets expectations
3 – Important 3 – Meets expectations with exception
2 – An asset 2 – Potential to meet expectations
1 – Somewhat beneficial 1 – Does not meet expectations
Criteria Criteria
Weighting
Candidate
Assessment
Comments
Body Language Eye contact
Professional appearance
Handshake
Hand motions
Verbal Responses Ability to address question
Confidence in responses
Depth of response (I)
Length of response (E)
Speaking volume
Personability Ability to carry on conversation
Ability to think on his/her feet
(E)
Genuineness of response (I)
Overall Evaluation Overall professionalism
Overall impression
Other:
Final Score
INTERVIEW PERFOMANCE OF INTROVERTS 18
Criteria Expectations Definitions
Criteria Expectation - “The interviewee…”
Body Language
Eye contact Uses eyes to show interest in the conversation and communicate
with the interviewers. Does not stare at the table or somewhere else
in the room but also does not stare at interviewers to the point of
discomfort.
Professional
appearance
Is dressed appropriately for a formal interview. No sneakers or
athletic wear. Full suits are not necessary, but attire appropriate for
a job interview or presentation is expected.
Handshake Gives a warm, friendly handshake. Handshake is not weak or
awkward not is it too uncomfortably firm.
Hand motions Uses hand motions that emphasize or help articulate the point of the
response. Motions are present but not distracting or overwhelming.
Verbal Responses
Ability to address
question
Responds by addressing all parts of the question. Answers do not
beat around the bush or stray off topic.
Confidence in
responses
Responds with conviction in answer. Minimal conversational fillers
or qualifying phrases such as “umm,” “I think,” or “I don’t know.”
Depth of response (I) Demonstrates critical and reflective thinking in responses. Answers
are not vague nor are they too intensely personal for the setting.
Length of response (E) Gives responses of a length that appropriately answers the question.
Responses are not so short as to be incomplete, nor are they so
overdrawn so as to be off topic or excessive.
Speaking volume Speaks with a volume at which they can be clearly heard. Volume
is not so soft that it is hard to hear nor is it too loud for a casual
conversation.
Personability
Ability to carry on
conversation
Speaks as if questions are a conversation rather than interrogation.
Can respond naturally to follow-up questions without taking over
the conversation or interrupting, nor giving too short of an answer.
INTERVIEW PERFOMANCE OF INTROVERTS 19
Ability to think on
his/her feet (E)
Is able to give meaningful, thoughtful responses to questions.
Responses are given relatively quickly after each question has been
asked and follow-up questions are adequately addressed.
Genuineness of
response (I)
Answers appear to have real meaning to the interviewee. Answers
are not overly flowery nor generic. Responses are unique to
interviewee and say something about his/her character.
Overall Evaluation
Overall professionalism Presents himself/herself as prepared to accept a job or scholarship
offer. Dress and behavior are poised and acceptable for professional
work.
Overall impression Presents himself/herself in a way that exceeds the interviewer’s
expectations for a prepared, responsible college student.
INTERVIEW PERFOMANCE OF INTROVERTS 20
Appendix D
Sample Interviewer Debrief Focus Group Questions
Thank you for participating in the simulation a few weeks ago and for further supporting my
research by coming out today. For this focus group, we are going to informally talk about your
experiences in the simulation, trends you notice, and some implications of the results I found.
To start off, what was your impression of the interview process?
What criteria were most important for you to use in evaluating interviewees? Why?
What stood out about some of the interviewees? What were your initial impressions of the
participants?
Did you notice a difference between the interviewees?
This study intended to assess the difference in interview performance between introverts and
extroverts. Could you tell which interviewees were introverts and which were extroverts? How?
Do you think you scored introverts differently than extroverts in their ability to meet
expectations? Why? What were the differences?
[show average score for introverts vs. extroverts] Why do you think there are (or are not)
differences between how you evaluated their ability to meet expectations?
Do you think these differences put either extroverts or introverts at a disadvantage in getting a
job or scholarship? Why or why not?
What implications could these evaluation differences have in the workforce?
What rubric criteria would have been more helpful?
INTERVIEW PERFOMANCE OF INTROVERTS 21
Appendix E
Sample Interviewee Focus Group Questions
Thank you for participating in the simulation a few weeks ago and for further supporting my
research by coming out today. For this focus group, we are going to informally talk about your
experiences in the simulation, trends you notice, and some implications of the results I found.
To start off, what was your general impression of the interview process?
What do you think the interviewers were looking for?
What did you think of the situation-based interview questions? Were they helpful for you to
discuss your experiences and skills?
Did any question(s) make you uncomfortable or seem difficult to answer?
Do you think there are some types of body language that are more helpful than others in
interviews?
Do you think you did this well?
How well do you think you did on the interview? What do you think your score was?
This study intended to assess the difference in interview performance between introverts and
extroverts. [show average score for introverts vs. extroverts] Why do you think there was (or was
not) a difference between the scores?
Did you ever think there would be a difference? Why or why not?
Do you think these differences put either extroverts or introverts at a disadvantage in getting a
job or scholarship? Why or why not?
[Show blank evaluation rubric] What criteria do you wish you had been evaluated on?
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