How to Conduct an Interview
Quick Tip!
When conducting an interview, make sure to ask open-ended questions that will tell the story of the person you are interviewing. This will help you get lots of important information you can use in your piece.
Helpful Staff for this Topic
There are several different types of interviews — job interviews, blog interviews, and even recorded interviews — but they all require an interviewer to sit down and get thoughts out of an interviewee. At the Corps, interviews are conducted for blogs and for projects requiring video interviews. By conducting these interviews, the Digital Corps not only creates good content, but also creates an overarching story with valuable perspectives that has meaning.
Before the Interview
Research the interviewee
Researching the subject before the interview is crucial to getting insightful answers from them. Make sure you know who the person is, what they do, and why they do it. When you research the subject, ask yourself if the interviewee is a good person to interview or not. If the interviewee is from Ball State, search the Ball State directory for their profile. This is a great way to get some basic information about the person before doing any other research. After, conduct a simple Google search of who you will be interviewing. This can even help you formulate interview questions catered specifically to the subject.
Asking staff is also a valuable asset you can use. By asking Digital Corps staff what they know about the subject, you can get some more personal information that may not be available online.
If applicable, try to find past interviews of the subject. This can help you create good questions and also see how they react to certain questions. This step also helps provide an idea of what the interviewee is like before conducting another interview with them.
Create questions for the interview
Jumping into a list of questions at the beginning of an interview does not set the mood for the rest of the interaction between you and the interviewee. Good questions should make the interview feel like a conversation and should put the subject at ease. Create some questions that relate to the topic and the interviewee. When you write the questions, ask yourself: How does this portray and enhance the storyline and the Digital Corps voice?
Here are some examples of good and bad questions:
Good: “What kind of things inspired you to be in your profession/position? How have those impacted you and your work?”
Bad: “What’s your story?”
Good: “Why did you decide to start [organization, situation, event, etc.]? What influenced you to create it?”
Bad: “Can you explain what [organization, situation, event, etc.] is?”
Be sure to construct interesting questions as well. These could be thought-provoking, or even spontaneous questions, but being able to do this allows you to have a conversation with the interviewee instead of their answers sounding too scripted.
Verify times and meeting locations
Ensure that the day and time of the interview is convenient for both the interviewee and the interviewer. Leave room before and after to make it feel less forced and rushed, which can lead to quick and unthoughtful answers. Check in on the day of interview to make sure that plans have not changed. If they have, be prepared to reschedule the interview to another day and time.
Be prepared
Take time to sit down and analyze your notes and interview questions to determine the priority questions and question order. Have a charged laptop for referring to questions, recording, and note taking; or have printed questions, a functional recording device, and a notepad.
Quick Tip!
Recording interviews helps you find applicable quotes or sections, however, you must ask permission first.
During the Interview
When it comes time for the interview, start with some small talk
You should initiate some small talk as this will help ease nerves before the real interview begins. Ask about your subject’s day or other relevant topics to get the conversation flowing.
Be attentive and flexible
Active listening not only lets the interview know that you value their responses, but also helps you guide the conversation. Don’t just focus on the next question, but rather, pay attention and don’t be afraid to ask follow up questions or skip less relevant questions. Make note of quotes or sections of the interview that further the storyline. This will make selecting pull quotes, logging footage, and editing content easier.
Let the interviewee do the talking
After you ask a new question, give the interviewee time to think and respond. When you allow for space in the conversation it leads to more thoughtful responses.
Adjust on the fly
Sometimes interviews may not want to answer a particular question and that’s okay. Remember to stay composed and not be thrown off with your list of questions. Recognize when the interview strays off-topic. Bring your subject back to the original topic of discussion if they potentially ramble, have long-winded stories or answer.
Match your interviewee’s energy and expertise
An interview shouldn’t be boring, so be lively and be excited to conduct the interview. By creating a good energy with your subject, it will make them feel comfortable and possibly allow for better answers.
Ask if the interviewee has any information they would like to add
Wrap up the interview by asking if the subject has anything to add. When you allow the interviewee to contribute personal anecdotes and words of wisdom, they might cover other questions missed. Then, ask your subject for any graphs, statistics, photos, or other media relating to the topic. These additional resources could be beneficial to your story or project.
Here is an example of a well-done interview between journalist Gayle King and musician Bruce Springsteen:
After the Interview
Thank the interviewee for their time. Tell them in-person and send them a message or an email letting them know that their time for the interview was appreciated.
Go over the information
Look at questions of importance that you marked during the interview. Using these questions could serve as the backbone of a story and help guide writing a blog or creating a video.
Go over the interview recording. Make sure to use the most accurate information by referring back to this recording. This also helps clear up any areas that notes might not be able to supplement well.
Transcribing interviews can take a long time, but there are various transcribing websites like otter.ai that will transcribe your interview for you. That way, you can read your interview in a text format, making it easier to identify key quotes. There is also a new transcribing tool on Adobe PremierePro, which you can learn more about in our Reference Guide about captioning.
Conducting an interview may seem simple, but in reality, there are many components that make up a good interview. It is best to be organized, prepared, and knowledgeable about the topic and person to make the interview more collected and relaxed. Conducting an interview is one of the ways you can become better as a communicator. By learning to conduct an interview and ask questions of others, you enhance your listening, comprehension, and writing skills.
