Video Response – YueMin Chin

The Right Way to Interview

“Getting People to Talk: An Ethnography & Interviewing Primer” is a video about the proper and the best way to interview people. A lot of the strategies that are presented in the video is also suggested in Telling True Stories, A Nonfiction by Mark Kramer. Like many experienced journalists have pointed out, it is important to make the interviewee to feel comfort. Either the interview must be outside or in a kitchen, it is necessary to let the interviewee feel no pressure. The opening of “Getting People to Talk: An Ethnography & Interviewing Primer” shows that not many people are comfortable talking to a stranger on the streets. Many people just ignore the interviewer or reject the invitation. When the interviewee once feel comfortable, the interviewer can start to ask basic questions to warm up. one of the experts has noted that you want to connect with the interviewee so he or she can open up to you. The questions can be easy question, but the ultimate goal is to allow the interviewee to tell the interviewer a story relating to the subject. It is crucial to stay focus and interested as an interviewer so the interviewee can feel the need to tell something more. However, it is not good to overreact to certain story because it might scare the interviewee and eventually lose the connection between interviewee and the interviewer. The expert also has said that it is good to see the interviewee more emotionally because it is a sign that they are trusting you and telling you everything they know.

Harvard Political Review on the other hand is a different type of interview. The setting is intimating because it is in a conference room of Institute of Politics at Harvard College. The interviewer introduced herself or himself and jumped straight into the questions. The body language of the interviewees often to be very stiffen at the beginning of the interviews. The questions allow the interviewees to tell stories, but the questions are very specific. This type of interviews is what I have often watched on television or internet. The format is very rigid and intense to watch. The audience does not feel like connecting with the interviewee, but rather like a short session to know about the interviewee. The audience will not learn much about the life and the motive of the interviewee, but more on the topic of subject.