interviewing a witness

[keannu]

Does this "interview" refer to the same thing as "question"? Why was "interview" used instead of "question"? "question" and "interview" seem to be about "trying to figure out what the witness knows about",while "interrogate" about "doing it in detail". I mean, "interrogate" is a further and deeper action.

pp89)A small town lawyer was interviewing a witness, and elderly woman who had lived in the town her whole life. While questioning her, he casually asked, "Do you know who I am?" "I certainly do," the woman replied...

[SoothingDave]

They are all basically synonyms. In police use, you would probably "interview" a witness to a crime and "question" or "interrogate" a suspect.

[Grumpy]

Most people would understand an "interview" to include the whole face-to-face meeting between the lawyer and the witness. Questioning would be a specific - and very important - part of the interview, but not all of it. The lawyer would also be gaining impressions of the witness through observing her physical reactions.

The difference between interrogating and questioning is not necessarily the depth and detail involved, but the fact that an interrogation usually has elements of formality and duress involved. A guest celebrity may be questioned - even in great detail - on a TV show, but a prisoner in a police "interview room" will be interrogated.

Oops, SoothingDave; didn't see you get in first.