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Consultant: Vivian Ugalde
Using an interview can be an effective primary source for some papers and research projects. Finding an expert in the field or another person who has knowledge of your topic can allow you to gather unique information that is not available elsewhere.
There are four steps to using an interview as a source for your research.
- Know where and how to start.
- Know how to write a good question.
- Know how to conduct an interview.
- Know how to incorporate the interview into your paper or project.
Step One: Where to start
First, you need to determine your goals and ask yourself the following questions:
- Who are the local subject matter experts?
- How can I contact these people?
- Does anyone know them to help me arrange the interviews?
- Are their phone numbers in the phone book or can I find them on the internet?
After answering these questions and selecting your interviewee, get their basic information such as name, title and other general details. If you reach out and your interviewer doesn’t participate, don’t be discouraged. Continue to search for other interview contacts.
Step Two: How to write a good question
When you’ve confirmed an interview, it’s not time to ask questions.
- Learning as much as possible about the person before the interview can help you create questions specific to the interview topic.
- Doing research on your interviewee’s past experience in your topic or any writing they have written would be great background research.
As you start thinking of questions, write down more questions than you think you’ll need and prioritize them as you go. Any good question will answer the 5W and H questions. Asking Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How questions to answer for your paper will help you form a question to ask your interviewee.
When writing a good question, try to think of something that will help your argument.
- Is your interviewee an advocate for your position?
- Are they in any programs that are related to your research?
- How much experience do they have?
From broad questions like these, you can start narrowing down to more specific and open-ended questions.
Step Three: The Interview
If possible, arrange for the interview to take place at the subject’s workplace. This will make them more comfortable and you can write about their surroundings.
- Before you ask your questions
- Begin the interview with small talk to give both of you a chance to get comfortable with each other
- Develop a friendship that will make the interview easier for both of you.
- Once you start asking the questions
- I’m taking notes
- Ask open-ended questions
- Keep the conversation going
- Stay on topic
- Love the silence
- The quieter the room, the more honest the answer.
- If an interesting topic comes up that is related to your research, ask a follow-up or follow-up question about it.
- By the end of the interview
- Ask if you can keep in touch with your interviewee in case you have further questions.
Step Four: Turn on the interview
When choosing your interview material, remember that people rarely speak perfectly. There will be plenty of slang words and pauses that you can remove as long as it doesn’t change the meaning of the material you’re using.
While entering your newspaper interview, start with a transition such as “according to” or other attributes. You should also be specific about the type of interview you are working with. In this way, you will build a stronger ethos in your newspaper .
The body of your essay should clearly contain the quote or paraphrase you use from the interview responses. Be careful not to stick a quote from the interview in the body of your essay because it sounds good. When deciding what to quote in your article, think about which dialogue from the interview would add the most color to your interview. Quotes that illustrate how your interviewer sounded or what their personality is are always the best quotes to choose from.
After doing this, proofread your essay. Make sure that the citations you use do not make up the majority of your paper. Quotes from the interview should support your argument; you should not support the interview.
For example, let’s say you argue that free education is better than not. For your argument, you interview a local politician who is on your side of the argument. Instead of using a big quote that explains the position of both sides and why the politician chose that side, your quote is there to support the information you’ve already given. Whatever the politician says should prove what you claim, not give new information.
Step Five: Examples of citing your interviews
MLA
Smith, Jane. Personal interview. May 19, 2018
WHAT
(E. Robbins, personal communication, January 4, 2018).
AP
Smith also claimed that many of her students had difficulty with APA style (personal communication, November 3, 2018).
Reference list
Daly, C. & Leighton W. (2017). Interviewing a Source: Tips. A resource for journalists.
Driscoll, D. (2018 ). Interviewing. Purdue University
Hayden, K. (2012). How to conduct an interview to write a report. Bright Hub Education, Bright Hub Inc.
Markuch, C. (2017). How to incorporate interviews into essays. Leaf group education.
Magnesi, J. (2017). How to interview someone for an article or research paper. Career trend, Leaf group Media.
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