Comments on: Unlocking the Past: Techniques for Conducting Meaningful Interviews http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2009/11/12/unlocking-the-past-techniques-for-conducting-meaningful-interviews/ Weblog of Wesley Fryer Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:55:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Terry Freedman http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2009/11/12/unlocking-the-past-techniques-for-conducting-meaningful-interviews/comment-page-1/#comment-103214 Terry Freedman Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:38:16 +0000 http://www.speedofcreativity.org/?p=3907#comment-103214 Thanks, Wesley. No, because I was using the recorder purely as a back-up in case I needed to check my notes afterwards. So I had a different purpose than that. What I did with all the answers, in fact, was to amalgamte them all into a document with which all of them agreed, and that formed the basis of the (successful) bid. However, what the experience taught me was the value of saying as little as possible as an interviewer, which is why I think it's relevant in the context of family history and so on. It's harder to work with the material afterwards, but what you end up with is much richer than if you had had just a standard Q and A session. (Actually I will be talking about that project with Peggy George at http://live.classroom20.com/ on Saturday 21st, in case anyone reading this is interested.) Cheers :-) Terry Thanks, Wesley. No, because I was using the recorder purely as a back-up in case I needed to check my notes afterwards. So I had a different purpose than that. What I did with all the answers, in fact, was to amalgamte them all into a document with which all of them agreed, and that formed the basis of the (successful) bid.

However, what the experience taught me was the value of saying as little as possible as an interviewer, which is why I think it’s relevant in the context of family history and so on. It’s harder to work with the material afterwards, but what you end up with is much richer than if you had had just a standard Q and A session.

(Actually I will be talking about that project with Peggy George at http://live.classroom20.com/ on Saturday 21st, in case anyone reading this is interested.)

Cheers :-)
Terry

]]> By: Wesley Fryer http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2009/11/12/unlocking-the-past-techniques-for-conducting-meaningful-interviews/comment-page-1/#comment-103210 Wesley Fryer Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:07:18 +0000 http://www.speedofcreativity.org/?p=3907#comment-103210 Excellent, thanks Terry. I agree listening is a key part of the oral history and digital storytelling process. Did you post any of your interviews with principals as podcasts or videos? Excellent, thanks Terry. I agree listening is a key part of the oral history and digital storytelling process. Did you post any of your interviews with principals as podcasts or videos?

]]> By: Terry Freedman http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2009/11/12/unlocking-the-past-techniques-for-conducting-meaningful-interviews/comment-page-1/#comment-103194 Terry Freedman Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:08:29 +0000 http://www.speedofcreativity.org/?p=3907#comment-103194 I like this post: lots of good ideas. However, I would add the following: I think even more emphasis should be placed on listening. It's good to ahve a structure or a list of questions, but one of the problems with revealing that too early is that you skew the talk. For example, last year I was interviewing Principals about what they would like to use new technical equipment for, as I had been asked to write a bid for a large sum of money. However, I didn't ask that question. I asked them to tell me what they would like their school to 'look' like in terms of teaching and learning. And then I let them talk. And talk. And talk. And while they were talking, I quietly ticked off all the nicely typed list of questions I had, so at the end all I had to do was a bit of a mopping up exercise. OK, the answers didn't come in the order I'd have liked, but I got their passion as well as the information I wanted, so who's complaining? There's a good video about the art of the interview here: http://www.diigo.com/annotated/8e5a370f45b384b65b1cc75c1cddd7ac I like this post: lots of good ideas. However, I would add the following:

I think even more emphasis should be placed on listening. It’s good to ahve a structure or a list of questions, but one of the problems with revealing that too early is that you skew the talk.

For example, last year I was interviewing Principals about what they would like to use new technical equipment for, as I had been asked to write a bid for a large sum of money. However, I didn’t ask that question. I asked them to tell me what they would like their school to ‘look’ like in terms of teaching and learning. And then I let them talk. And talk. And talk. And while they were talking, I quietly ticked off all the nicely typed list of questions I had, so at the end all I had to do was a bit of a mopping up exercise. OK, the answers didn’t come in the order I’d have liked, but I got their passion as well as the information I wanted, so who’s complaining?

There’s a good video about the art of the interview here: http://www.diigo.com/annotated/8e5a370f45b384b65b1cc75c1cddd7ac

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