Field Reporting: Conducting an Interview

Educate yourself before you try to describe an event to others.

How to Conduct an Interview

• Making contact with your interviewee

• Preparing for the interview– Coming up with Questions

• Meeting with your interviewee

• Following up on your interview

Setting up the Interview

• Contact the potential interviewee in advance• Be sure that you ask for the interview. This

person is doing you a favor• Arrange a specific time and place, and let the

interviewee know how much time it will take• Identify the topic that you will be discussing

during the interview

Preparing for the interview

• Be sure to write out a list of questions in advance

• Find out whatever information you can about the person you’re interviewing

• Decide which questions are highest priority if time runs short

• Decide what your goals are for the interview

Coming up with Questions

• Ask yourself: “What is it that I need to know?

• Write down a list of things that you are hoping to find out

• Write a list of questions that you think will lead to these answers

• Check the questions carefully to see if the wording could be offensive to your interviewee

Meeting the Interviewee

• Always bring a stiff-backed notebook and several trustworthy writing instruments

• If you wish to tape-record your interview, always ask before doing so

• Keep notes on the interview, but make sure that you are still talking to the interviewee, not just scribbling

Meeting the Interviewee(cont.)

• Be sure that you come to the interview with a prepared list of questions (more than you think you’ll need!)

• Try to stick to the topic at hand, but be ready to be flexible if your interviewee brings up unexpected but valuable information.

Online Interviewing

• If you need to interview via email, don’t forget to ask permission for the interview

• Make sure that you establish the scope of the interview and the amount of time the interviewee is committing to.

• Remember that the same rules of courtesy still apply

Following up the Interview

• Always be sure to thank your interviewee, orally and in writing

• Once you have written up your results, you may want to re-contact the interviewee to recheck facts

• Write up your results soon after the interview while they’re fresh in your mind

Conducting an Interview

• Remember, conducting a successful interview involves attention to each of the following steps:– Making contact– Preparing for the interview– Meeting the interviewee– Following up on the interview– Quickly writing the final piece