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Tips for Interviewing Scholars

26 November, 2015 - 17:23
  • Schedule the interview as far in advance as possible
    • Explain the topic, the context, and the probable use of the information to give the interviewee time to prepare
    • Ask permission to record the interview on audio or video
  • Use the principles of interpersonal communication
    • Be cordial, smile, make eye-contact right away
    • Start with some small-talk or make a personal observation to get interviewee at ease
    • Appear curious but not pushy or cynical
    • Use your biographical backgrounding of the interviewee to ask about something you know interests your source
  • Don’t talk too much
    • Remember, you are there to get the source to talk, not to show off your scintillating personality
    • Get comfortable with silence – resist the inclination to jump in and ask the next question as soon as your source is finished speaking
  • Ask questions that will generate the most information and keep the interviewee talking
    • Don’t ask yes/no questions
    • Don’t ask about things you should already know from your background information unless there is some discrepancy you need to clarify
    • Ask lots of “how?” and “why?” questions
    • Use summary questions throughout the interview. (“Let’s review what we’ve covered…,” “I want to be sure my notes are accurate. First,…,” or “Let me check to make sure I understand your points….”)
  • Don’t let pride get in the way of a good interview
    • Don’t be afraid to ask if you don’t understand something
    • Remember, there are no dumb questions when it is in the context of avoiding a misinterpretation or a mistake
    • Keep asking until the material is clear so you’ll be able to make it clear to your audience
    • Clarify jargon or specialized terminology. (A good question to ask in that situation may be, “How would you explain that to a layman?”)

Scholarly sources typically are not experienced interviewees. You may be the first person who has ever called or e-mailed to ask for an interview, which puts you at an advantage in one sense, but poses some special problems in another. The advantage for you is that, unlike highly “coached” institutional sources from business or politics, your scholarly source is usually not polished in evading or skirting difficult or provocative questions, meaning that you are going to get an “honest” view of their expertise and opinions.

The disadvantage is that the person may be nervous, apprehensive about how you are going to conduct the interview and use the information, and fearful of saying or doing something that will hurt his or her reputation or standing in their academic community. There are several ways to deal with this particular problem. The most effective, as we’ve already stated, is to be totally prepared for the interview by knowing as much as possible about your source and the topic before you ever make the call. A nervous interviewee will be put very much at ease when he or she realizes that you’ve done your homework in advance.

Another strategy is to use an interview technique in which you demonstrate that you understand the interviewee’s agenda. The source has probably been thinking about the interview, rehearsing what to say, feeling nervous about making the right points and being clear. How do you let your source know you understand his or her agenda? You might start this way: “I have six questions I think are important for you to answer. After we finish with those, I will ask you whether we’ve left out any important information. And I will make sure you have my phone number and e-mail address so that if something occurs to you after I leave, you can contact me.”

This saves time and prevents a “filibustering” interview, which happens when your sources become concerned after your first question that they will never be allowed to say what they think is really important. They may then react by immediately going off on a tangent from which it is nearly impossible to recover and bring them back to your point. By setting up your questions to recognize the interviewee’s perspective, the source knows that he or she will get a chance to identify important information even if you miss it in the first pass. Again, this points to how important it is for you to become knowledgeable in advance of the interview about some aspects of the source’s particular work and expertise.