Week 13 As the "casting" assignment progressed this week, what considerations were at the front of your mind? What wheels were turning?
A few things came to mind as I worked on the form and read the articles. First of all, I was surprised to read that I should “feed subjects the questions ahead of time.” I suppose that does make it more spontaneous, but I feel that when I reach out to total strangers, asking to interview their great-grandmother, they may want to know exactly what I’m going to ask and may not be satisfied with general topics. With one of the participants who was used to public speaking, he didn’t seem concerned about the specific questions. With the other, relatives asked me for a list of questions. I also like the advice to give the last work to the interview subject with the “Is there anything you’d like to add?” question.
This assignment also reinforced to me that I need to get on the ball and secure more interview participants--I’m aiming for three centenarians, and possibly a geriatrician. I’ve spoken with one and did a partial interview, but I need to go back for a second day. I’m also concerned about crewing because it involves travel around the state and that’s a big ask.
Giving questions before the interview isn't that bad. With some people it can make their answers feel rehearsed but in many cases, they just want to know what they should be thinking about before they are asked a cold question.
ReplyDeleteYes yes yes! Send those questions to them! Having those open lines of communication builds trust. If they don't like the questions, they will feel comfortable enough to let you know instead of ghosting you. Have you found your one person yet? The one that you were talking to? Anyway, I didn't say that to imply that that was why your participant is rogue, just saying that sending the questions really does help ease their nerves and allows them a little time to rehearse their answers. I did interview a group of elderly women in Wilmington for my doc and they didn't have the questions prior to, but they were also my first group that I interviewed and the conversation flowed. There was a last minute interview that I did, and she didn't receive questions prior to either and she ended up being a very key piece to the story. However, for all of my other ones, I definitely sent over questions.
ReplyDeleteFor the Doc class doc, my interviewees were largely not informed about what specific questions I'd have and to be honest I felt like half of the interviews suffered a bit from it (basically the ones where the subjects weren't used to talking on these subjects to others with authority).
ReplyDeleteI typically fall into the category of not giving questions ahead of time. However, you're in a unique situation where it may help for them to have a general idea to 1) build trust with relatives and 2) help with jogging memories.
ReplyDeleteEach project is so very different. There are best practices, but always be willing to shift if it is better for your project. It's your choice to break "the rules" - just know the rules and know why breaking them is better for the creative outcome.