IMR 604

DOCUMENTING ORAL TRADITION

FACULTY OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

Interviewing technique

 Putting interviewees and yourself at

ease
 Many of us are nervous about
interviewing-but our job is to put
interviewees at their ease
To begin…

 Be punctual
 Set up your recording equipment as
soon as you arrive
 Be polite but confident in taking charge
of the interview
 Reinforcing the things already
discussed during the preliminary
interview.
 Continue…
 Explain to interviewee that they can ask you to
stop the interview at any time if they want a
break or are concerned about the direction of
the interview.
 Assure them that they can say
‘Could you stop the interview now?’ without
worrying about their words being recorded-can
be edited
 Explain that you will need to watch the tape
recorder and that you will tell them when you are
going to turn over or change tapes.
 Proceed with sound check- Make sure the
equipment is working properly-so that you have
self confident
Continue…
 Interviewing is very demanding- you must
concentrate on several things at once and
attempt at the same time to be ‘one step ahead’
of the interview.
 Your partner must always look at the tape and
ready to change it before it run out.
 Maintain a good deal of eye contact with the
interviewee.
 Follow the conversation and make rough notes
about new matters you want to raise.
Principles involved

 Narrow focus
 Well-defined structure
 Questions that add complexity and
depth
 Ways of asking questions
 Previously we dealt with three parts
questionnaires- orientation, common,
and specific questions.
 Now we look at the different ways of
asking questions and how you can use
different types of questions to
advantage.
Open-ended and closed questions
Most of the questions asked in an interview
should be ‘open ended’ so that interviewees
are invited:
 To provide information
 To tell a story
 To give details
 Keep talking

Open ended questions start with word or

phrase like:
 Why
 How
 What
 Tell me more
 Explain what you mean
 Give me an example of
Open-ended and closed questions
Closed questions result in a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer or
single word reply- they tend to stop interviewee
talking. Closed questions start with word like

 Did you
 When
 Who
 Were you

However, closed questions certainly have an

important role in an interview- particularly to
establish dates:-
Q: When did you
join the A: 1945
communist
party?
Open-ended and closed questions

 Closed questions should be followed by

open ended questions to get the
interviewee to provide further information.
 Recognizing the difference between
open-ended and closed questions and
using them both to advantage are
important skill.
Neutral and leading questions
 Most of the questions asked in an interview
should be ‘neutral’ or ‘non-leading’ so that the
interviewees are encouraged to give their own
opinions and impressions.
 Leading questions can result in interviewees-
through politeness or intimidation- matching
their answer to the tone of questions.
 Leading questions often take the form of
leading statement:
Q: You must have been outraged when you
were told you couldn’t join the club
 The interviewer is demanding a response to his
or her opinion rather than asking a question
that invites the interviewee to respond freely
Simple and double-barrelled questions
 Most of the questions asked in an interview
should be asked one at time in simple,
straight forward sentences.
 Double-barrelled questions, or questions with
more than one part, can be confusing or
intimidating and very often lead to
interviewees answering only the last part.
Follow-up questions
 Most of the questions asked in an interview
should be follow-up questions so that the
interviewees are encourage to provide details,
to give examples, and to tell stories.

 Follow-up questions are always open-ended

questions and are made of simple but
invaluable phrase like:
 How did you feel about that?
 What do you mean by that?
 Can you give me an example of that?

 The lack of follow-up questions is usually the

chief difference between a superficial and
really useful and satisfying oral history
interview