Final answer:
Clinical interviews, such as those used in medical anthropology, are structured and focused on specific subjects like an individual's illness experience, differing from casual conversations which are more spontaneous. They typically start with a working script and utilize open and closed questions, follow-ups, and silences strategically to gather deep qualitative data.
Step-by-step explanation:
Clinical interviews differ from a normal conversation in several key aspects. Unlike everyday conversations that are usually casual and where the flow of dialogue can be random or spontaneous, clinical interviews are structured and have a specific purpose or research agenda. Clinical interviews can take many forms, but they are characterized by a clear focus on the interviewee's experiences, thoughts, or feelings regarding a particular subject matter.
An illness narrative interview is a type of structured interview used in medical anthropology. Although these interviews can vary in formality, they always focus intently on the individual's illness experience, which is a deeply personal topic. This can make them quite different from more casual discussions and requires a different approach by the interviewer to elicit detailed information.
While a normal conversation may develop organically, clinical interviews often start with a working script and consist of open and closed questions. Open questions, such as "Why did you decide to major in business?" allow for broad answers, while closed questions, like "When did you receive your degree?" prompt specific information. Effective interviewing also includes the use of follow-up questions for clarification and strategic use of silence to allow the subject time to think and provide thoughtful responses. Anthropologists use these interviews to inform their research with qualitative data that would be difficult to capture through quantitative methods.