An interview is not a conversation. A conversation is purely for the enjoyment of the two people involved. An interview is for audience. That is not to say that doing an interview can not be pleasure for both people involved.
The interview should sound like spontaneous conversation in which the interviewer is fully informed and successful at eliciting interesting, informative and concise answers. But successful interviews are usually more calculated and planned.
Conversations tend to ramble, contain long pauses, and often operate at a personal and visual level beyond what is being said. Interviews have to be more overt, open, direct, entertaining, and concise than most conversations.
In conversation we assert ourselves to let the other person know about us. In an interview the focus should stay squarely on the interviewee. You should only use anecdote or personal experience as a way to get to an issue you want to discuss with the interviewee. For example, a parallel in your own life or experience to something the interviewee is addressing.
PREPARE
You cannot be too prepared. You can overuse your preparation but it never hurts to know a great deal. At the first level, do you know why you’re talking to this person? Is this the best person to speak with on this topic? Where is this person coming from? Will they represent a certain perspective? That’s fine, you just better know what it is. Check the background of guests thoroughly. Sometimes there will be a tidbit in their personal history that will open up a line of questions.
Just as a good reporter knows much more than he or she has time to tell in a story, a good interviewer should consider multiple paths the interview could take, and then choose the best one. Read everything possible. The lucky revelation comes more often when you know more. Once you are totally prepared, you must keep that information in the background. Most listeners don’t know as much as you do. Don’t forget to give background so people understand the question.
The Technology: Many people are unused to working with microphones. Show them how to sit, show them simple hand signals you will use if they are too close or two far away. Let them know it will be edited. Double check all recording equipment before you go into the field so you will not have to be spending too much attention to it.
Structure: What’s the roadmap of this interview? You may change it in the edit, but have a working plan. A good interview has a beginning, middle, and end. Sometimes the interviewer can plan a climax with a question that evokes a surprising revelation or emotional response. Ideally the climax will come at the end of the interview, or the interviewer carefully plans a way to close the interview without sounding anti-climactic. The structure of many interview is chronological – how did you begin playing music, when did you first realize you wanted to be a writer. The advantage is that it provides an easy to follow structure. A disadvantage is that you may not get to the important point quickly enough.
W,W,W,W,W,H
Writing questions: Always have list of questions reflecting the direction you would like the interview to take. Attorneys are warned never to ask a question they don’t know the answer. Interviewers shouldn’t go that far, but they should ask questions they know the answer to advance the interview in the direction they want it to go.
Read back over your questions out loud. How might they be answered? Be precise in your phrasing to avoid getting the wrong question answered or being forced to explain what you mean. Carefully check your facts and your language to take out things the interviewee may seize on rather than the substance of your question (i.e. “When you were the leader of the group….?” “I was never the leader!!! ). Reread the questions just before the interview begins so they are fresh in your mind and you can refer to your notes as little as possible. Read the questions over at the end of the interview to be sure you covered everything.
Do:
- Ask who, what, where, when, how and why questions. They are open ended and will elicit better responses.
- Locate the personal interest of the interviewee. What got them interested in this? Visit their place and pick up cues from pictures, citations on the wall, bric a brac. It’s also a way to make a connection.
- Plan your follow up questions. Play chess. If they answer this way, my follow up will be this. If they answer that way, my follow up will be that. Sometimes a question is just a set up for the next question.
- Try to get the interviewee recall an event for you. Nudge them along –‘then what happened’. The person will see the experience in the mind’s eye and be narrativng the memory as if it’s in real time. [Jesse Hagopian interview Haiti Earthquake].
Don’t:
- Ask verb questions. ‘Do you believe nuclear power is safe’. They can be answered yes or no. They tend to close down the conversation. Better – ‘what do you think of nuclear power?” then “why do you think it’s safe”.
- Ask Chinese menu questions: Do you believe in affirmative action because it rights the wrongs of slavery, or because it morally correction, or do you believe in affirmative action because it is good for the nation, or is it because…..”. The interviewee will pick the question to answer and it may not be what you want answered.
- Include subtle or not so subtle loaded language. F.ex. “Why are you demanding a new contract?”. The verb demand implies unreasonableness. An interviewee may object.
- Include unwanted premises. “When did you stop beating your wife?”.
LISTEN
Be open: Your mind should run on two tracks. What is being said. Where do I want the interview to go next? Depending on what you are hearing, you may want to follow a new thread, or pull the conversation back to a plan. Don’t be afraid to throw away your preconceptions and take off in an interview. Study when to fly in conversation mode and when pull back and elicit information.
Always think about the audience. What would they like to hear answered. Do they understand the term just used in the interview? Did they answer your question.
Devil’s advocacy – It is important to get interviewees to explain things well. Often that involves probing. Probing isn’t done to embarrass the interviewee, but to get them to explain themselves to the skeptics in the audience. When preparing questions, get out of your own head and try to imagine what this person’s harshest critic might ask or what a skeptic may wonder.
Troubleshooting: At some point in some interview you will have no idea what the hell to ask next. The answer will be too brief or pre-emptive for you to think ahead or you will be distracted. It can dangerous to open your mouth and start talking. Nervousness will mean that you will babble and finally ask a stupid question. You can avoid this problem by having your question list at the ready and taking a pause to refer to it.
Your interviewee may begin to say things you don’t understand. STOP them immediately. It does you no good to have an interview you don’t get. One of the best questions you’ll ask is “I’m sorry but I’m not clear about what you mean. Could you explain…..?”
Go back over your interview questions before you finish
What interviewees know: Consultants tell interviewees to stick to one or two subjects and always turn the question around to that answer. Use short answers to trip up interviewers or talk long to fill time and run out the clock. Be ready to divert the interviewee off the set answer (research will enable you to prepare the follow-up), have lots of questions, work on how to tactfully interrupt (I am glad you mentioned that… but what I’d like to get to is…..).