Dear Dr. Ink:
Hi there, Dr. Ink. Long-time reader, first-time emailer. What are your favorite interview techniques?
Brian Friel
Associate Editor
Government Executive magazine
Answer:
Dr. Ink is no expert on interviewing. The world’s expert, in Doc’s opinion, is the great Canadian journalist John Sawatsky. From Sawatsky, Doc has learned how systematic a good interview needs to be. Certain kinds of questions evoke particular kinds of answers in predictable ways. In his work, Sawatsky reveals the haphazard interviewing approach of many journalists, including some famous ones.
Over the years, Doctor Ink has learned some important lessons about interviewing, mostly by trial and error. Here are his favorites:
1. Shut up.
2. Shut up some more.
3. Work from a list of questions, but veer off.
4. Shut up again.
5. Get there early, stay late.
6. Interview a person on his or her turf.
7. Ask for tours (of a photo album, book or music collection, memorabilia, set of golf clubs, wine cellar, favorite crack house, old neighborhood).
8. Write down things you see, not just answers to questions.
9. Use your notebook to show that you are conducting a formal interview.
10. Put your notebook away near the end, but keep talking.
11. If you’ve got time, hang around a person to watch and record his or her interactions with others.
12. Ask the most important questions more than once and in different forms.
13. Ask the “slam the door” questions last.
14. Shut up.
15. Fill out or copy your notes as quickly as possible.
