Lesson 9. Research Skill: Interviewing
KEY CONCEPTS
- Communicators conduct interviews for a variety of purposes.
- Interviewees are motivated to share information for a variety of reasons.
- The information people share in interviews is based on their expertise, experience, self-interest, proximity and other factors.
- There are a variety of tools and strategies for locating appropriate interviewees.
- Selecting appropriate interviewees and evaluating the information they provide is a major information task for all communications professionals.
- Preparing for an interview must be tied to the question analysis and to the interviewee’s background.
- Interviews must be conducted ethically, and the information generated by them must be used ethically and legally.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
After completing this lesson you will be able to:
- differentiate between different purposes for conducting interviews.
- understand different types of interviewing methods.
- understand different categories of potential interviewees.
- search for interviewees using appropriate tools and strategies.
- understand how to select and gather background information about interviewees.
- understand interviewee characteristics based on the type of information contributor s/he represents.
- understand interviewee rights and the interviewer / interviewee contract.
- understand basic “interviewing etiquette.”
