"The most important technique ...": Carl Rogers, Hawthorne, and the rise and fall of nondirective interviewing in sociology

In the 1940s, interviewing practice in sociology became decisively influenced by techniques that had originally been developed by researchers in other disciplines working within a number of therapeutic or quasi‐therapeutic contexts, in particular the “nondirective interviewing” methods developed by Carl Rogers and the interviewing procedures developed during the Hawthorne studies. This article discusses the development of nondirective interviewing and looks at how in the 1930s and '40s the approach came to be used in sociology. It examines the factors leading to both the popularity of the method and its subsequent fall from favor. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.