Posting Questions

          This week I am spending almost all of my time transcribing. I listen to the audio we’ve recorded during the interview (at .75 speed) and I still have to pause every thirty seconds or so because the speaker is talking too fast. (I’m very excited because I’ve finally finished transcribing the longest interview!) Instead of subjecting y’all to another blog about typing, I am going to talk about using questions to direct interviews.

          One of the hardest things about conducting an interview is staying on task. During our first interview, Trish took the lead which meant that I could interject thoughts or pose questions whenever they occurred to me. However the lead interviewer cannot respond willy-nilly to the interviewees. In their mind there must be a preexisting map with broad strokes on where the conversation needs to go.  As an example, in this series of interviews, we are specifically looking for stories of romance, stories about hard times, about times when the community came together, about someone’s help in desperate times.

          Yet, we still need all of the stories that do not fit into these categories. If we limit ourselves to just our keywords, we will miss all of the story gems that litter the periphery of the tales. Discerning the line between superfluous detail and becomes the interviewer’s task. My task. So far, I have found that the best tool for to directing the conversation is preparing questions beforehand which apply specifically to the interviewee’s life and which will likely lead to both interesting stories and tales which incorporate the themes we are looking for. 


Some generic introduction questions are always helpful: 
Include community based questions: 
  o Describe two things that make you distinctly you?
  o How long have you been here in Sanford?

Before the interview I knew that Faye was a gospel musician, so I prepared several questions (20) about that. If you know anything about the interviewee, prepare questions which specifically relate to their life.Here are my examples:
    o What is the most important thing your family taught you about music?
    o What was the first tune(s) you learned?
    o  How has your religion affected you music?
    o  How has your heritage affected your music?
    o   Have you ever seen God do something miraculous here in Sanford?
    o  Has your singing ever been on obstacle for living life?

Avoid technical questions, questions which will result in a one or two word answer, or questions which are too specific to the interviewee:

    o Have you been in competitions? Any prizes? 

    o  How do you handle mistakes during a performance?

Don't forget romantic questions:
    o   When you went on a date, what did you do? where did you go?
    o   When did you first meet your husband?

Ask questions about their connection to this town:
    o  How has your music (or life) impacted Sanford?
    o   How has Sanford affected your life (music, whatever they do)?
    o   Describe an event that changed the appearance or character of Sanford?
    o   What was your favorite location in Sanford? is it still here?

Ask questions about community and friendship:
    o Can you remember a time when someone helped you just when you needed them?
    o Describe a day when you are most happy to be in Sanford.
    o If you can pass one thing on to the next generation, what would it be?

Prepare questions based on other keywords that Celery Soup is currently looking into.

          When you have composed all of these questions, sort them by category, so that you can easily access them in the middle of the interview. Also, accept the fact that most of your questions will remain unused. You need a plethora of questions to choose from, but will never have time address them all in a one or two hour interview. Perhaps rank your question, marking the ones that you absolutely want to address.