Friday, August 9, 2013

Information & Interviews.

Hello Everyone, In the next few weeks I am going to be interviewing some family members and friends. I want to know how they felt when they first met me, how they felt when they found out about my disability. I have a feeling that interviewing people that you know will be harder the interviewing a stranger! How YOU can create the best environment to conduct an interview: - Create A Professional Setting. Regardless of your relationship with the person you are interviewing, you still need to create a setting which is professional that will work for you and the person you are interviewing. Conducting an interview while you sit in the lounge chairs out on the Deck drinking beers is most definitely not the best way of doing it. Instead, invite you're family (friends) to you're office or arrange a lunch date for the interview. - Leave Out Personal Details. Your readers don't want to hear to much about you're relationship with your family members. Instead, they're interested in what your family (friends) have to say about the topic. - Pretend You Don't Know Each Other Unfortunately, family members will often leave out important details when you've discussed the topic before (in every day conversation). When you start your interview, explain to your family (friends) that they must pretend that you've never talked before. Details such as past experiences, education, and history are valuable to the interview. Make sure you get as much background information as possible! - Ask Permission: Some family members might not like the idea of seeing their names (and life story) in print. You have to respect that, regardless of how excited you are to do the interview. Before you do any research at all, tell you're family (friends) that you'd like to interview him/her and what the interview will be used for. - Ask What You Don't Know. Since you're interviewing a family member (friend), you're going to need a hook-something with each to capture you're readers attention. This can often be achieved by asking you're family (friends) about a story you've never heard or using an interesting quote you get during the interview. Make sure you think about the structure and content of interview as you plan your questions. - Time Frame. You don't want the person you're interviewing to feel like they are being rushed or that you have held them captive! Keep your interview length no more than 1-2hours. It's tiring for you and for the person being interview. REMEMBER: this is supposed to be fun!!! - Make Sure You Take Good Notes. Make sure you record both you and the person you intend to interview name(s), the date, the place you interviewed them. - Asking Questions. Ask questions that will encourage more then a 'yes' or 'no' answers. Try to elicit facts, feelings, stories, descriptions. - Showing interest. Take an active part in the dialogue without dominating it. Learn to be a creative listener. - Don't Push. Don't push for answers. You're family member (friend) may have a reason they wish not to share a curtain subject. Move on to something else! - Prepared Questions. Use your questions as guidelines. But don't be afraid to let your family member (friend) go off on a tangent. They may have many things to share that you never even thought to ask. - Family Approval. Put your family members (friends) at ease by telling them they will have a chance to see and approve what was spoken about and recorded at the interview before you show it to others. - Thank You. What ever you do, do not forget to I thank each person for their time. I hope that these steps help you to conduct the most useful interview and it helps you and the person you're interviewing get the most out of the information shared!. Ok well guys I'm off to write down my questions ready for my husband when he gets home from work. I will be posting the interview on Monday. Amanda <3.

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