This week my planned interview with a local park ranger was postponed because of his busy schedule. In a way, his postponement is a blessing in disguise. After the topic of interviewing was raised this week, I realised that I was ill prepared to conduct an interview because I knew little of the in and outs. Now, however, I realise that running an interview properly is more or less like an art form and that a certain skill is required to conduct a conversation which is both natural and informative.
First of all, I understand how important it is to study the topic of discussion. At the start of the week, I was planning on just rocking up to the interview with a few relevant questions and then letting the interviewee share his knowledge. Scanlan (2013) proposes that if you show the interviewee that you have a comprehensive understanding of the topic, he/she is more likely to open up.
Secondly, I learned that in order to invoke a desired answer, the questions must be formulated in particular ways. If I want an “expansive answer”, I should ask open-ended question that include the five W’s and H. If I want a direct answer to a particular question, I will ask closed-ended questions that get straight to the point.
Finally, I recognised the primacy of being empathetic. Instead of acting like a robotic questionnaire whose sole concern is to solicit relevant information, I plan to empathise with the plight of the interviewee so that he is more likely to disclose his feelings towards the situation.
References
Institute, T. (2018). How journalists can become better interviewers. [online] Poynter. Available at: https://www.poynter.org/news/how-journalists-can-become-better-interviewers [Accessed 19 Aug. 2018].
