How to Do a Research Interview

When researching, it is often best to interview key people directly. Sometimes you will only need precise factual answers from them, in which case communicating by text might suffice, but for gaining a broader knowledge of the subject an actual conversation is much better. Speaking enables the person to wander into areas that you weren’t aware of or didn’t know would be relevant. So, you need to do a research interview.

There are six stages:

1. Finding the person

2. Contacting them

3. Arranging the interview

4. Preparing for it

5. Conducting it

6. Afterwards

A lot of the advice here is common sense, but for beginners some of it might not be obvious. It’s just a guide. Ultimately you will learn by doing, and you will develop your own interview style and your own ways to handle things. However, this guide contains techniques I hadn’t thought of before I started doing this kind of thing, so hopefully it will save someone else some time.

Finding the person

Depending on your subject, this can be very difficult. You might need to be very persistent and resourceful, even pushy.

Sometimes you might not be sure that the person is still alive. Take chances. Even if it seems hopeless, try anyway - you’ve got nothing to lose and you might be pleasantly surprised.

If you can’t find the person directly, find people who are connected to them and ask to be put in touch, or ask for tips on how to find them.

Ask on forums, Facebook groups etc. whether anyone knows how to contact the person.

Try multiple methods at once rather than waiting for one method to fail first.

Be very open. You don’t need an email address, you need anything. This could be a phone number, a Facebook or Instagram or Twitter profile, a physical address, or something else. While the goal is to end up with an email address, right now you just need some way to contact the person or someone associated with them.

Contacting them

Assuming you find the person and a way to contact them, you now need to do so. This can be nerve-racking because it is a “make or break” situation: how you approach them will affect whether they agree to speak with you.

Your opening email/text should be as brief as possible without being impolite. Address them as Mr/Mrs, not by their first name.

In the first sentence, introduce yourself as a researcher (or whatever you are) and describe the project for which you require their knowledge. In the second sentence, explain their relevance to it and ask whether they would be amenable to an interview. In the third sentence, state how much of their time you are asking for (don’t be greedy - definitely not more than an hour). In the fourth sentence, thank them for reading and perhaps include well wishes, a hope that this message finds them well, and possibly a hope that they don’t mind being contacted in this way.

An example email:

Dear Mr Cuthbert,

I am a researcher currently writing about the energy industry in Grangemouth during the 1980s. Given the key role you played at BP in that era, would you be willing to be interviewed on the subject? It would be a simple phone call, lasting about 30 minutes.

Thank you for your time, and I hope you don’t mind being contacted out of the blue like this.

Yours sincerely,
[your full name]

That’s all. Don’t inject any waffle about your life history, how hard you worked to find them, how much you love their stuff, what an awesome privilege it would be to talk with them, etc. The only things you might add are:

• an explanation of how you obtained their contact details. People can understandably be protective of their privacy and get worried when someone contacts them out of nowhere.

• a few words about your credentials, ideally a hyperlink to some online profile so that it doesn’t lengthen the email

• that their assistance would be of great help and you would appreciate it

The key thing is to keep it clear, simple and polite, so that they can read it quickly and understand exactly what you’re asking for.

Be patient. Wait at least a week before haranguing them for a response.

Arranging the interview

This assumes the person is amenable. Further communication should clarify the situation between you and them:

• the date and time of the interview. Ask what time of day and which day would be best for them, or ask them to suggest a time.

• whether they are willing to also answer questions by email.

• whether you can record the interview. Recording is infinitely better than trying to jot down the answers “on the hop”. It can be done easily using an app on your phone. Or if they are Internet-savvy, you can record calls over Streamyard, Telegram, Discord, etc. The advantage of a simple phone call is that it doesn’t require them to be on any particular Internet platform. (You want to make it as easy as possible for them to help you.)

Preparation should take all of the above into account.

Preparing for the interview

Preparation is essential for making the interview a success.

Write down as many questions as you can think of - especially if you will only get one shot at interviewing them. If necessary, delay the interview until you are confident you have all the questions you need.

You might be seeking a broad overview of the subject, or you might not want to limit the person’s answers to things you already know about. Therefore, some questions might be precise, others quite vague and open. Don’t be afraid of asking either type, though you might need to preface a question by explaining why you’re asking it.

A question can be worth asking even if you’re not sure the answer will be useful to you. The truth is, you won’t know until you’ve got the answer, and you might be surprised.

A question can be worth asking even if you already know the answer - or think you do. (For example, two interviewees will give different accounts of the same thing.)

If they agree to answer questions by email, split them into two categories:

• questions that could elicit long, unpredictable or complicated answers. These would benefit from the “free flow” of verbal communication, so should be asked during the interview.

• questions that will elicit closed, isolated answers (eg. yes, no, 1936, blue). Ask these by email. This frees up time during the interview.

Consider the order in which to ask the questions during the interview. For example, it might be wise to put “high priority” ones at the start in case you run out of time.

Conducting the interview

A research interview is a specific type of conversation. It should be neither a cold interrogation nor a casual chit-chat. You should be flexible and friendly, but also maintain focus.

Ensure there will be no interruptions at your end.

Have the questions in front of you, ideally on a computer so that you can easily type new ones during the interview. (Type answers only if you aren’t recording.)

Tips for the conversation, in the order you will need them:

• First, thank the person for agreeing to do this. Very important!

• Perhaps begin by saying that, though you have specific questions, you would like them to first talk about the subject in general. (Say “a broad overview” or “what would you say about it generally?” or “what would you like people to know about it?”) Now, they might be baffled by the request, or simply not have much to say of their own accord, which is why you must have specific questions ready. But usually, it will cause them to go off on a long, sprawling monologue. This is good. It will probably provide some of the answers you want (so you won’t need to ask those questions) and suggest new questions that hadn’t occurred to you. Only when they finally “run aground” with this monologue should you begin asking the questions you had prepared.

• Don’t be overly friendly, overly enthusiastic about each answer, etc. This comes off as artificial. Be relaxed. Listen carefully to everything they say, but only respond to it when they have stopped talking.

• Don’t interrupt when they are “in full flow”. That derails their thinking and they might have been about to say something interesting. So, if you do interrupt, be sure to get them back on-track afterwards.

• If time remains after you have asked all of your questions, ask whether they have any additional things to say about the subject. Frankly, the goal is to keep them talking, because they might keep spilling out useful material. But don’t be pushy; if they say no, wrap things up.

• A second interview might be more useful than the first, since by then you will have a better grasp of the subject and of what you need from them. If you think this would be useful, now is usually a good time to ask whether they would be amenable.

• Finish by thanking them again. This is not just a matter of politeness; they will be more inclined to answer follow-up questions, and even do a second interview, if they understand that you appreciate their time.

Afterwards

Listen to the recording and delete any questions from your list that are answered. The recording might well inspire new questions.

What you do next depends on whether you have additional questions and whether they have agreed to a follow-up interview and/or to answer questions by email. If yes, then it’s a process of reshaping the list of questions - sending some off by email, separating others out for the follow-up interview, etc.

Having transcribed the answers, you might give the person a chance to correct, refine, clarify or expand them in written form. This is not just a courtesy to them; it can benefit your project. (It’s also possible that you will have made errors in transcribing so this is a useful check.)

One thing worth bearing in mind: if you are going to interview multiple people about the same subject, be careful about deleting questions when they have been answered by one person; you might forget to put them to subsequent people.