Doing the first interview was an interesting process. My first scheduled interview with a professor fell through because she was too busy, which makes sense and I'm sure happens in the field. People have schedules of their own and I'm sure its hard to add extra things that just simply take up time for them, although it is a valuable experience for me. That is why I figured its important to make the interview valuable so as to not waste the time of the interviewee as well as your own. After watching the interview in class on Friday, which in all reality can't be judged too harshly because I'm sure most people have or will experience an interview like that. However, those interviewing techniques we discussed such as descriptive questions and probes will help. The things my section identified as problems were:
- failing to have interviewees introduce themselves
- the phrasing of too many question in one
- not asking the question to a specific person
- little to no follow up questions
- asking questions that could be answered in one word
- language barriers that the interviewer didn't try to work through
Most of these issues can be overcome. Sure, the band Sigur Ros did little to elaborate on any of the questions asked, the interviewer should be able to overcome that by asking the right questions.
As I interviewed last week, I felt like things such as probes came naturally in that setting. I had a list of prepared questions, but the interview mostly took its own direction as things the interviewee said prompted new questions and viewpoints I had not anticipated. Maybe I was simply lucky to have someone who was willing to talk, but it was a good way to ease into interviews.
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