When people say ‘to be honest with you’ when I’m interviewing them it puts me in a bit of a panic. “What?!” I think to myself “Have you been lying all this time and just decided to be honest now?”

But no, actually I think what’s going on is that people are often simply exhibiting a simple verbal tick. Or sometimes they are indicating (or leaking) the fact that they are saying something that strays from what they think is the acceptable response, or the response that they want to give about themselves…

As researchers we should be confident about checking up on this -probing a bit further to check up on their comfort levels with what they’ve just said.

I’ve noticed too that respondents can often breathe out a bit when the recording device is turned off, and then say what they are really thinking. Frustrating!

It’s worth using this understanding of people’s behaviour and incorporating it into questioning techniques. I often ask people to tell me what they have been thinking, but not told me so far. I also point out to respondents that people often have a ‘negative’ or cynical commentary going on in their heads, and ask them to tell me what these thoughts are. And sometimes, I just turn the recording device back on and ask them to say it again…