A Guide for Conducting
ORAL INTERVIEWS
(Excerpts from
David E. Kyvig and Myron A.
Marty, Nearby History: Exploring the Past Around You [Nashville,
TN: American Association for State and Local History, 1982], pp.114-118.)
Before the interview:
- Call or write the respondent well before the time you
would like to conduct the interview. Explain your plans
and purposes, solicit the person's interest in your
project, and set a time for an interview. Keep notes on
your first conversation. . . . Your advance contacts will
probably set the respondent to thinking about your
interests, and you are likely to secure a better
interview. More than courtesy is involved in laying the
groundwork for interviews.
- Gather as much background information about the
respondent as you can and familiarize yourself thoroughly
with the relationship between the respondent and the
poject you are working on.
- Outline the main points of interest for your interview.
To avoid being trapped in a rigid format, it is best not
to write out specific questions but to jot down short
phrases around which you can readily build questions.
This use of notes will give the conversation a touch of
spontaneity and will help set both the interviewer and
the respondent at ease. If you choose to write out
questions, be prepared to abandon them if the interview
takes unexpected but productive turns.
- If you plan to use a tape recorder, become thoroughly
acquainted with its operation . . .
To start the interview:
- Situate yourself and the respondent in comfortable
positions. . . . Try to avoid distractions, interruptions,
and background noises from radios, television sets, or
traffic.
- Let the recorder run for a few minutes as you chat about
matters not directly related to the interview. Listen to
a minute or two of what you have recorded. This should
relax both you and the respondent while you make sure
that the recording is picking up at proper level. . . .
- If you can do so without making your respondent nervous,
begin the interview with identifying information: name
the interviewer, the respondent, the date, the place, and
the subject of the interview. A conversational style will
provide a nice transition between the informal
conversation and the interview which follows,
establishing the basis for an easy flow between questions
and answers.
- Be sure to check the time and to know the length of your
tape . . . Interviews should not normally be scheduled to
last more than an hour or at most ninety minutes.
During the interview:
- Remind yourself that the interview is not intended to
show off your knowledge . . .
- Avoid asking questions that can be answered with a simple
yes or no. Useful leads include: "What led up to . .
.?" "Tell me about . . ." "What did
you feel when . . .?" and "I would like to hear
about . . ."
- Ask only one question at a time; that is, avoid running
questions together or protracting them so that the
respondent is confused regarding which one to answer.
- Keep your questions brief and to the point.
- Start with noncontroversial matter, saving more delicate
ones until good rapport has been established.
- Listen.
- Don't let periods of silence fluster you; the respondent
needs time to think.
- Dont' worry excessively about a question that seems to be
clumsily worded. A little fumbling by the interviewer may
help put the respondent at ease.
- Do not interrupt a good story simply because another
question has occurred to you or because the respondent
has wandered from the planned framework of questions. If
you do, valuable remembrances might escape. Try to find
gentle ways and the appropriate time for pulling the
conversation back on the track.
- To help the respondent describe persons, ask about their
appearance, then about their personality, character, and
activities.
- Remember that persons being interviewed are likely to
give more interesting and more vigorous responses to
questions or statements that imply uncertainty on your
part than to ones that suggest that you are merely
seeking agreement. A phrase like "I'm not sure I
understand" or "this can be confusing to
someone who wasn't there" may elicit useful
information.
- Try to establish where the respondent was at the time of
the events being described as well as his or her role in
them. Determine where the respondent was a participant or
a passive witness.
- Use the interview to verify information gained from other
sources. Do not take issue with accounts given by the
respondent even if you believe another version to be more
accurate. Be content to elicit as much information as
possible, possible by offering alternative versions:
"Some people say . . ." or "I have heard .
. ." You can decide later which version of a story
is accurate.
- Try to avoid off-the-record comments; try instead to get
the respondent to speak in terms that permit the
statement to be part of the record. . . .
- Do not interrupt the respondent unless the story strays
too far from its course. Interruptions, when necessary,
should begin with phrases like "let's go back to
where you . . ." or "a moment ago you were
telling me about . . ."
- Avoid turning the machine off and on unless the
respondent becomes unduly agitated or uncommunicative.
Having some irrelevant material on the tape is better
than losing the flow of the conversation by switching the
recorder off and on again.
- Be alert to points in the interview when special factual
information is brought out. Take note of this information
by writing it down. Asking the respondent to spell names
is not at all inappropriate. Accuracy is more important
than an uniterrupted interview.
- Use photographs, clippings, or other documents to
encourage the respondent to talk about persons or events
that are of particular interest to you and about which
his or her memory might need some jostling. Asking
respondents to dig out photographs and other memory-prompting
materials before the interview may be a way of inviting
them to think about the topics you want to discuss. . . .
After the interview:
- [Don't forget to have the respondent, as well as yourself,
sign the interview release form.
- If you have not taped the interview, as soon as possible
sit down and, with the help of any notes that you have
jotted, write out a fuller set of notes of the interview.
- Don't be afraid to make a second contact with the
interviewee in order to clarify details and ask follow-up
questions that occur to you.]