Tuesday night’s class was completely dedicated to developing relationships with people in the field we have chosen to research and basic interviewing tips to keep in mind as we continue our research. One of the main and most reiterated points was to keep the interview casual and conversation-like rather than a formal question-answer “research procedure” Jaber F. Gubrium and James A. Holstein say in their first chapter of Postmodern Interviewing. They go on to say that “it would therefore be a mistake to treat the interview-or any information-gathering technique-as a simple research procedure…It is not just a way of obtaining information…” (p. 29).
Another point that was heavily discussed in the book was the importance of not treating the interviewee as merely a vessel that contains that information that needs to be extracted. The people we have to go out and interview are just that: people. This point really resonated with me because I remember when I interviewed my mother to create an oral history, she was so apprehensive about doing the interview. So, in an effort to try to calm her down, I had to back my way into the interview. Several of my classmates agreed that charging into the interview is the quickest way to my the interviewee feel pressured and uncomfortable. Therefore, before I can even consider interviewing anybody for my project, I have to start building some bridges through Twitter, blogging, going out and getting to know the people in the field, and once that relationship is developed then I can start trying to set up interviews.
Once I have some interviews planned, rather than coming with a list of prepared questions, the interview should sort of develop organically; go with the flow, ask follow-up questions to interesting points brought up in the interview to show the interviewee I’m listening to them, and build up to a gradual coverage of all the information I wanted to know.
I’m especially nervous about this whole process. I’m not the most outgoing, social person in general or all that comfortable with talking to people that I don’t know, and it’s my job to make the person I’m interviewing feel comfortable opening up to me. How will I ever do this? Every time I think about it I can feel my shoulder bunching with tension and the pressure of this project weighing them down.
If anybody has any tips about how to navigate these uncharted waters, please pass them on.
Julianna Lopez's Research Blog 