Interviewing Techniques

If you’re thinking about doing an interviewing project, here are some points to think about.

• Conducting interviews with asylum seekers requires sensitivity. Many have had negative experiences of questioning during the process of their application for asylum. It is important to select people who are not only willing to talk, but are also likely to see a conversation with young interviewers as something potentially enjoyable, and a chance to convey information and experience that will be new to their listeners. In the Doors Open project, the Village Storytelling Centre had already made friendships with a number of people in the local asylum-seeking community and so it was possible to get enthusiastic interviewees.

• The important thing is to make the experience as positive as possible. Make the interviewee aware that you know they have a lot of interesting experience to convey and that the end product (book or film) will be valuable educationally and socially.

• Establish what areas of their experience they are willing to talk about and be sure they understand the use that will be made of what they say.

• Try to choose people who are good talkers. Drawing out reticent people takes a lot of skill and experience.

• The interviewers should be aware of the need to be tactful and respectful with the interviewee. They should also be aware of what their interviewee is willing to discuss. Some, for instance, may not want to talk about torture or time in captivity; others might want to do precisely that. In the latter case, the interviewers should be prepared for moving accounts, though, of course, it is not a counseling session – the interviewee will largely determine the level of detail it is advisable to convey.

• The interviewees are people whose command of English is limited. This requires interviewers to be aware of their own idiomatic speech and how to modify what they say so that they can be understood.

• Keeping a conversation going isn’t easy. Should the interviewers have a list of questions? Or just a note of the themes they are going to deal with? Young interviewers will tend to go through a list, moving on when perhaps the interviewee has opened a potentially rich vein and could be encouraged to say more. Using supplementary questions or making brief interested comments are obviously skills that develop with experience and practice. For a project like this, it is a good idea to give the interviewers as much practice as possible.

• They should be encouraged to ask open-ended questions, e.g. more ‘what did you feel about…?’ rather than questions which can be answered by yes or no.

• Have a good comfortable room where the interview can be conducted without disturbance.

• Interviewers should have practise in using a mini-disk recorder. Be sure it is recording and that the interviewee is comfortable with the microphone.

• Transcribing is time-consuming and possibly something the pupils should only have a taste of.

• Editing and final production was carried out by the Village Storytelling Centre staff, but the young interviewers were made aware of the need to ensure that the interviewee sees the transcription/ manuscript and is given a chance to change anything before publication.