Wow... Week 1 has gone so fast. I have spent my time refamiliarising myself with literature that I found particularly helpful in module 2, recruiting participants, exploring interview questions, and studying interview techniques.
I will be using a combination of interviews and questionnaires to collect data for my inquiry. I am really excited to see how data differs depending on the way questions are asked (verbally or digitally).
As interviews are so foreign to me, I thought it would be good to do some research about how to interview. I began thinking about this in module 2 and came across a TedX by Dan Moulthrop entitled 'The Art Of Asking Questions' (I shared it in a blog, which you can see here). Moulthrop shares some great tips about choosing questions and different interview approaches. These are his 8 key points:
- Be unafraid
- Be curious
- Try the obvious questions
- The words you use matter
- Strive for empathy
- Be informed
- Be simple
- Be gracious
He made it seem so simple. I was still unsure so read/listened to some published interviews. Sam recommended 'The Ethnographic Interview', which reminds readers that interviews are very similar to the friendly conversation, and funnily enough, if you Youtube interviews, many are entitled 'A conversation with...'. I then listened to an interview of Billy Joel (which took place in 1963). He was being interviewed by Studs Terkel, a very famous author/broadcaster. He interviewed with such ease. Although he already had knowledge of Joel's background, he asked simple questions, showed a lot of interest, and responded effectively and graciously. I thought it particularly impressive when Terkel would pick up on small fragments of Joel's answers and ask him to expand on this. I thought it was quite beautiful actually.
I had a super helpful tutorial with Sam yesterday. We discussed my interview questions and my approach to interviews. He reinforced the idea of simple interview questions and reminded me that I must be prepared in case participants ask for questions reworded.
For now, I have stopped worrying about interviews, and have composed some interview questions that I have put a lot of thought into. I will also be modifying these questions to suit my questionnaires better. I am excited to see where this leads me and will hoping be documenting my progress/findings soon.
References
Spradley, J., n.d. The ethnographic interview.
TEDx Talks, 2021. The Art Of Asking Questions | Dan Moulthrop | TEDxSHHS. [video] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZSY0PssqH0&t=421s> [Accessed 28 April 2021].
2021. Bob Dylan interviewed by Studs Terkel (1963). [video] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYdvOPRE3EQ&t=172s> [Accessed 18 September 2021].
Lovely Blog.
ReplyDeleteI have read a few bits of the ethongraphic interview but only recently have i ordered the book from the uni library So i think ill take another look at it before i have any more interviews. Any parts you found extremely helpful?
All my interviews are with friends and colleagues as they fit my brief, so i hope they are quite easy going.
What type of literature have you re-read? parts that you spoke about in m2?
Thanks Clare. I ordered the book from the library. I didn't actually read the whole thing, but it was just nice to read some examples of interviews and it helped me understand some interview techniques better :)
DeleteHi Alice! Really enjoyed reading this post! I am also nervous about interviewing people but after reading your top 8 tips they have really helped. I will defiantly give that TEDX a watch.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
all the best with your inquiry and interviews and I look froward to your next post.
Best
Chloe x
Thanks Chloe, yeah I found it really helpful, I hope you find it helpful too! I was nervous before my first interview too, but now I have done the majority of them, I don't know why I was so nervous!
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