Back to the Books: Preparing for Qualitative Interviews

In preparation for my project, I dug out all of my favorite books on qualitative interview foundations, preparation, and techniques. Looking at all of the information was a bit paralyzing because over the years I have continued to teach workshops on conducting interviews but I have not actually interviewing anyone for about ten years! I reread some of my standards I have used in oral history lectures and workshops and decided I needed to a literature search to see if there were more current resources available. I found several great books written in the past few years (mostly coming from Sage Publications out of Thousand Oaks, California) and waited for my Amazon delivery. 


Finally, after reading way too much advice, I just had to get started interviewing for my Stories about Bikes project.The pace and groove of interviewing did start to come back to me after about six or so. This time around, I've learned several things including...

• I am a better listener than I used to be.
• Waiting through the pauses almost always pays off.
• Editing takes much longer than I remembered.
• It is easier to tell the stories of others than it is your own.
• Technology can be both friend and foe.
• I am more patient letting children tell their stories than I am with adults.
• In general, interviewing people you know is more difficult than interviewing strangers.