Using Oral History Student Lesson

Section 5: Guidelines for Oral History Interviews

Directions

Your teacher will explain how you will contact and meet with interview subjects. Before your meetings, print out this page. Guidelines for Oral History Interviews will help you plan, conduct, and summarize your interviews.

1. Before each interview, work through the steps outlined in Preparing for the Interview and Conducting the Interview.

2. When interviews are complete, work through steps in After the Interview as a group.

3. When you have completed the interviews, your group will make a brief presentation to the class about your interview results and what you discovered about your research topic.

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Preparing for the Interview

Questions to Ask

Before conducting an interview, plan the questions you want to ask. Start by reviewing the three research questions your group wants to answer. Then, write down at least ten interview questions to gather information about the research topic you are studying. Think of things people can tell you about their first-hand experiences with your research topic. Write questions that will require more than a Yes or No answer.

For example, the second question will get better results than the first:

• Did you have chores to do as a child?

• Tell me about the chores you had to do as a child.

Reviewing How Federal Writers Collected Oral Histories may help you plan your questions.

When your list of questions is complete, role play with your interview questions. Are the questions clear and easy to understand? Do the questions give you the answers you are looking for?

Finding Someone to Interview

Your teacher will explain how to contact and meet interview subjects. You must be prepared with ideas for people to interview. For example, if your research topic is women's work in the 1940s and 1950s, you would want to interview women (although a man who supervised women workers might provide useful information). You would also need to interview someone old enough to have worked in the 1940s and 1950s.

Relatives and neighbors can be good interview subjects. Places that may be helpful in locating interview subjects are senior centers, retirement homes, or community organizations related to your research topic (e.g., a square dance club might be able to refer you to its more knowledgeable members). Remember, your teacher will explain how your class will contact and meet interview subjects.

Recording the Interview

Working in pairs allows one person to ask the questions and the other to take notes and operate a tape recorder if one is used. If you plan to tape record the interview, check "How to Do It," in Folklife and Fieldwork: A Layman's Introduction to Field Techniques. You'll find a simple checklist with hints for sound recording.

Before you get to an interview, make sure you that have a blank cassette and that the tape recorder is working. Label the tape with the date and topic of your interview, and the name of your interview subject. You will want to have your list of questions with you, and spare paper so you can write ideas for follow-up questions as the person is talking.

When your interview questions are written, your equipment checked, and your interview scheduled, go ahead to Conducting the Interview.

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Conducting the Interview

Interview Manners

Here are some pointers for good interview manners:

• Be on time.

• Be prepared. Have your questions ready, your notebook out, and your equipment in good working order.

• Be polite. Say please and thank you and address people formally (using Mr., Mrs., Ms., Miss, and so on).

• Provide time for the person to answer questions. Be patient when answers take a long time.

• Do not argue with or correct the subject. Oral histories are not always accurate. But they do provide important information about feelings and impressions.

• End your interview by thanking your subject.

• After the interview, send a thank you letter to the subject.

Getting Started

1. Introduce yourself. Give your name, age, the class and school you attend. Describe the research project your group has chosen.

2. Ask your interview subject if you can tape record the conversation. Have the subject sign a Release Form so you can share the information you collect with others.

3. Begin the interview by asking where and when the interview subject was born.

4. If your subject strays from the topic, try to refocus by asking one of your prepared questions.

Asking Follow-up Questions

Listen carefully while your subject is talking. Often, what a person says may suggest a follow-up question that will produce interesting information. For example, if your subject mentions the influence of his or her high school teacher, you might follow up by asking about the teacher -- Why did the teacher have a strong influence on the interview subject? What made the person a good teacher? Did you keep in contact with the teacher? and so on.

Write down follow-up questions as your interview subject speaks. That way, you can ask the follow-up questions at a pause in the interview, without interrupting your interview subject's train of thought.

When your interviews are complete, go ahead to After the Interview.

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After the Interview

Transcribing the Interview Tape

Listen to the tape of your interview. Transcribe (write down or type) the contents of the tape or the most important parts of the tape. You may need to listen to the tape many times as you transcribe what is said. When you are finished transcribing, think about the accuracy of what your subject said. Did you hear contradictory information or indications that the person did not remember an event well? Did the person have a clear bias that might have influenced the way events were remembered?

Analyzing the Interview

Think about your research topic. Did your oral history interview help answer those questions? Write some tentative summaries of your research results. Decide how your group will present these findings to the class. Remember that your presentation should be brief.

Before making your presentation, think about additional information you need to feel confident about answers to your questions. Check the accuracy of the information you gathered in other sources before you summarize your research results for the class.