Talking with people is a good way to gather information. It’s
efficient and fun. Interviewing techniques used to conduct
research may seem difficult to master, but an interview is just
a special kind of conversation. A successful job interview, for
example, is one that most resembles a normal exchange of ideas
between two people. Journalists conduct interviews all the time,
and for the most part they learn how to do it on the job. For
others, what happens before, during, and after an interview can
seem unfamiliar. This short article tries to demystify the
interview process and to help researchers use interviews to good
advantage in their work.
Conducting an interview is much like talking with someone about,
say, real estate values, flying an airplane, or starting a
business. In a couple of key respects, though, an interview is
not like an everyday conversation. One difference is that the
exchange focuses on a related set of ideas or problems for a
longer period of time than is the case with most conversations.
Another difference is that researchers plan to put what they
have learned in written form after the conversation is finished.
Together, these differences mean that a successful interview
requires good planning and good follow-up.
An inexperienced interviewer’s instinct is to write up a list of
questions ahead of time. Then during the interview, the
researcher ticks off the queries: “How was…?” The other person
answers. “What do…?” The person answers again. “Why did…?” The
structured back-and-forth exchange continues. That’s not a
terrible way to conduct an interview: it’s better than coming in
entirely unprepared. Still, it doesn’t give very good results.
The interviewee will probably check his or her mental clock on
the wall about five minutes into the exchange. Even more
importantly, the researcher misses the chance to conduct a
conversation that ranges beyond the limits defined by the
original list of questions. Whole fields of useful information –
not just stray bits here and there – go untouched as a result.
So, here are some tips for conducting an interview that’s
worthwhile for both participants:
• Write ample notes to prepare. Think about what you’d
like to know. Think about what you already know, and how you can
connect that knowledge to what you’d like to find out. Write
down questions in your notes, but make them general and don’t
worry if they are ill-formed. Also, be self-centered at this
point. Focus on what you’d like to find out. The center of
attention will shift more toward what the interviewee knows once
the conversation starts.
• Communicate with your resource in advance. Get in touch
ahead of time not only to set up the appointment, but also to
let the person know what the interview will be about. That lets
the person think about the subject a bit before you arrive. If
you can, send an e-mail that outlines in general terms what
you’d like to talk about during the meeting.
• Review your notes. If you write your notes shortly
before the meeting, you may have time to review them only as you
walk down a hallway or while you wait for the interviewee to
take a phone call. That’s often all it takes. The main thing is
to keep the contents of the notes fresh in your mind.
• Conduct the interview. Engage the person in an informal
exchange. Listen carefully, and respond to what the other person
says. Refer to your notes when you need to, but rely on your
memory, too. Be willing to jump around – you don’t have to
follow a set order in your questions. A good conversation
doesn’t lend itself to that much structure anyway. Practiced
interviewers learn that their best information comes in response
to questions that didn’t occur to them as they prepared for the
meeting. Ask follow-up questions, even if that means you have
less time to cover ground you mapped out in advance. Good
conversations are lively, like a dance of sorts, and that’s no
time to be rigid.
• Check what you have learned. Ask questions designed to
confirm what the other person has said. For important or complex
points, summarize what you’ve heard and ask the other person to
tell you whether you have it right. You want to communicate this
information to your audience in writing and you need to know it
well. Feeding the information back to the other person in your
words cements your own understanding. It also gives the other
person an opportunity to expand or qualify arguments, fill in
gaps, correct errors, clarify ambiguous points, explain or
modify controversial statements, and the like.
• Express your appreciation. The other person has given
not only time, but has tried in the midst of a busy schedule to
gather some important thoughts together for you. If you have
developed some rapport with the person along the way, leave open
the possibility of a phone call or other communication down the
line. Follow up with an informal note of thanks via e-mail.
You’ll appreciate the opportunity to confirm or clarify as you
get further into your writing. So will the other person.
• Write up your meeting notes soon after the interview.
Some people tape record interviews so nothing is lost. You’ll
also have any notes you and your resource write during the
session. The most valuable record of the interview, though, will
be the detailed notes you write afterwards. They’re valuable
because you can use them as a foundation (or a partial
foundation) for the written product you are working on. Try if
you can to write the notes no more than twenty-four or
forty-eight hours after the interview. If you want to capture
all the atmosphere and nuances of the conversation, write them
within an hour or two after the talk. If a busy schedule doesn’t
allow that, write them even if three or four days have passed.
Do it even if you think you have forgotten most of what you
talked about—your memory can retain things for a long time.
Review the materials you have in your meeting file to put your
memory in active mode.
• Type your post-meeting notes. Make the passage from
rough notes to rough draft painless. After you organize your
notes and put them into sentences and paragraphs, and after you
integrate them with other material you have gathered, you’ll
have something that starts to look presentable. Marking up notes
is much easier – and more fun – than trying to write well-formed
sentences on a blank sheet of paper or a blank computer screen.
Moreover, you’ll reach your goal of a draft that others can
review much more quickly than you thought possible.
These are basic steps of effective research conducted away from
the library and internet. Let me offer one caution, though.
Don’t treat these ideas and suggestions as step-by-step
instructions. Compare what I’ve learned from my research and
adapt it to your own work habits. Remember too that you’ll need
to adapt your research techniques to the particular project or
field you’re engaged in, whether it is historical, technical,
financial, medical, scientific, political, or some other area.
For some subject matter, talking with people is the only method
of research available. For other projects, interviewing
complements other research techniques. Either way, practice your
interviewing skills and become adept with them. Make them part
of your toolkit as a researcher and writer.
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Steven Greffenius