Art of the interview

Interviewing is the art of conversation, of making people comfortable, getting them to open up and learning things you didn't know. An interviewer needs to control the direction of the discussion while letting the person being interviewed think they are controlling the discussion. An interviewer should be armed with questions to ensure the proper ground is covered; often, though, many of those questions never need to be asked.

Here are some pointers on interviewing for students:

• As with our discussion of the Documentary exercise, get feedback on your ideas and your questions ahead of time; use the answers to help focus the direction of your inquiry.
• Draw up a list of potential people to interview for your idea. You want people with direct knowledge or with good stories to tell or whose life experience is close to your topic -- people who have been or may be affected, for instance.
• Contact the subjects to arrange a mutually convenient time and place for the interview. When you go to an appointment, make sure you are on time and focused -- do some preparatory work beforehand if necessary.
• Make your subject comfortable. Keep in mind that your subject, even a friend, is going to be nervous. And you may also be nervous. Get yourself calm first and then try to chat with your subject before you get started. If you are using a camera or recorder, set it aside. If you are using a video camera, set it up but keep it off for a bit and casually turn it on when you think both of you are ready.
• Try to have some questions ready. You should have half a dozen open-ended questions ready that you think will cover your topic pretty well. Try not to ask questions that elicit a yes or a no answer. Often you can ask those questions and then follow up with How? Or Why? Or Tell me more about that.... But it's better to have broader questions or prods, like "Tell me about when you bought those sneakers."
• Listen. One of the hardest things about an interview is that you tend to be worried about a lot of things: Is the camera working? Is my topic any good? Will I be able to do this? Does the subject think I'm an idiot? Does the subject look like he's foolish? So. Push those doubts aside and pay attention to what your subject is saying.
• Share. Another roadblock to a good interview is that you might talk to much. Or, you might not talk enough. Feel free to share a brief story about yourself if it is relevant. Often a subject will build on what you say to tell you more; and everyone appreciates it if you, the interviewer, are also showing that you are human.
• Lead the conversation. Questions are designed to elicit a conversation. They sometimes can lead to a stiff interview. So if you're listening, and someone says something that you find interesting, or you can see they're interested in, ask a follow up question. Again, it can be something like, "Tell me more about that."