My Reading on ASQ CQA HB Part III

Part IIIE
Interviewing A Group Of People
Interviewing a group of people is not the preferred method of conducting an interview, and its use should be
limited. Auditors should avoid this method of interviewing unless there is a very good reason for doing so.
Group Interview
For example, an auditor may want to interview a project team to better understand the team dynamics or a
group of sales representatives before they leave on an assignment. One of the difficulties is being able to read
the body language of several people at the same time. When conducting an interview with one person, the
auditor may easily recognize that a sensitive question has been asked. However, in a group interview, the
auditor may have to watch each person’s reaction to each question asked in order to ask the appropriate
follow-up questions. An auditor should also look for informal hierarchical relationships such that group
members seek one team member’s approval through eye contact, nods, or gestures or by deferring the
question.
When this method must be used, two auditors should be present and the group should be as small as possible,
ideally no more than five people.
Charlie Chong/ Fion Zhang