J203, Media Writing
10 Interviewing Steps
Here's a brief outline of 10 steps or stages in the interviewing process, which are summarized from the book Creative Interviewing written by UO Professor Emeritus Ken Metzler. These are designed for longish interviews, and you may find that some shorter interviews do not follow all of the stages, but the ideas are valuable for many interviewing situations.
1. Purpose. Why you're doing the interview. You should know, and your interviewee should know.
2. Background Research. As much or as little as you need
3. Request Appointment. make sure to ask for enough time.
4. Planning. Interviewers use different approaches. Writing specific questions; writing down general areas to cover.
5. Meet respondent. Ice-breaking comments, small talk.
6. First Conversation. Restate purpose
7. First questions. Simple, ego-reinforcing questions. Follow with more substantive ones.
8. The "bomb." A really tough question. Not all interviews have a "bomb." In fact, most probably don't.
9. Recovery from the "bomb."
10. Ending. "Any further thoughts?"
Make sure to get a phone number and/or an e-mail address in case you need to reach your interviewee again.
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