Gathering Interview Information

theory  You need to ask 30 questions to get 10 good answers to get three quotable quotes

Asking Questions  The best place to start is with the five w’s and the H: who, what, when, where, why and how

Asking Questions  Avoid leading questions that limit the interviewee’s responses  Do not ask: What did you like about the dance? (Maybe they didn’t like the dance.) Instead, ask: What did you think about the dance. (This allows for more responses and does not assume or lead to a response.)

Asking Questions  Avoid closed questions that lead to one-word or yes/no answers. These discourage further response and make it difficult to get direct quotes.  Starting with “do/did you,” “is/was there” and or giving a choice between two things will lead to a closed question. Always try to start questions with “why, how or what.”

Asking Questions  Allow person to expand on answer or ask follow-up questions to get a better response.

What to Quote  Use a person’s exact words in quotation marks.

What to Quote  Do not quote facts  Example: “The dance was on Friday,” Jones said.

What to Quote  Should be unique to that person and his/her feelings. If anyone could say it, it is NOT quote worthy.

This one?  “The dance was fun.”

Or this one?  “The best part of the dance was when we all took off our uncomfortable shoes, threw them in a pile and started dancing barefoot,” Senior Amy Glenn said. “I never got one shoe back, but it was worth it.”

Interview Tips

Tip #1  Be prepared with paper and a couple of writing instruments. It is unprofessional to ask for these things.

Tip #2  Use shorthand.  The standard method is to drop vowels, articles (a, an, the) and prepositions.  Rn Spn flls mnly pln = The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.  Develop your own shorthand for commonly used words.  b/w = between, b/c = because, w/ = with

Tip #3  Put a “Q,” quote marks or other symbols to indicate direct quotes.

Tip #4  Paraphrase a lot and wait for the good quotes to use as direct quotes.

Tip #5  Take notes about surroundings, appearances and mannerisms.

Tip #6  Keep what you are writing out of the interviewee’s line of sight, otherwise he/she will be distracted and unconsciously try to read what you are writing.

Tip #7  If you get behind, politely ask the interviewee to slow down or wait until you can catch up.

Tip #8  Never rely solely on tape recorders. They can malfunction and should be used only as a back up, for proof or for clarification.

Inside Reporting  Turn to page 74 of Inside Reporting to discuss taking notes