Interviews:
(Some terminology and ideas)

1. The first step will be to clarify your goals–what information do you need to get?
2. Then you’ll think about questions that will help you get that information. You’ll need to think about not only the content of the questions, but how to ask the questions. Here are some ways of thinking about questions:

• Open vs. closed questions. Questions can range from very open-ended, "Tell me about yourself," (which may or may not get you work-related information) to very closed, "Has your work life been good or bad" (which only offers one of two options). A better option might be, "What are the two or three things that have been most rewarding in your work life?" Generally open-ended questions give your narrator more control and will get you longer, more richly detailed responses, but require more effort from both you, the researcher (in analysis), and your narrator. But for an oral history interview, the difficulties of open, but focused, questions are far outweighed by the rich data they provide.
• Primary vs. secondary questions. After the initial primary question and response, you will often stumble onto an idea for which you’d like greater discussion and elaboration. (or occasionally, your narrator will not have quite understood your question and will give other or non-responsive information. You can simply restate the question or probe further by saying things like, "Could you tell me more about that?" At some points in the interview, you may want to use some reflective questions that will mirror back to your narrator what you think you are understanding to give her the opportunity or correct misconceptions or elaborate on your conclusion. You may also want to ask clearinghouse questions at the end of your interview to fins d out if there is other important information that your questions so far have not given your narrator a chance to discuss.
• Neutral vs. leading questions. Leading questions are those that indicate the response that asker expects or prefers. For example, "You wouldn’t ever do that, would you?" is a question that makes it very hard for your narrator to answer other than, "of course not." Less obvious leading questions are like the closed question above: "Has your work life been good or bad?" It is a leading question because it offers only two choices, A or B, when hundreds of other possibilities and combinations exist. Asking questions about issues as if there are only two options would be leading your narrator. "Did you work or stay home with your children?" will not provide you with the rich data that would result from your narrator fully describing her work life–in her own terms.
• Direct or indirect questions. Generally, a direct question is the most efficient and effective. But sometimes, you may not want to probe directly, often because you do not want your narrator to be hurt or offended by your question. You can try to get at issues that might be touchy by easing into them with a series of related questions, or by asking the narrator to speculate about how other women of her generation felt about this subject–then moving to how her views might differ from those of other women of her generation.
• Simple vs. complex questions. In general, a series of simple questions is more effective than a complex question. The more detailed or complex your question, the more likely your narrator is to misinterpret it, become confused, and give a non-responsive answer. Try to explain as simply as possible what you are asking–even explaining vocabulary, etc. if need be. Help your interviewee see the context in which you are using words and ideas.
• Reproduction vs. evaluation questions. Thinking about your questions along a continuum of reproduction vs. evaluation questions will be helpful to you for this project. At certain points, particularly early in the interview, you may be looking primarily for factual info that the narrator can simply recall. At other points, you will be expecting your narrator to interpret, translate, or evaluate information. If she does not offer this, encourage it with your secondary questions–following up anecdotes with questions like, "What did you think about that?" or "Were others experiencing these same difficulties/successes?" Be sure you ask both kinds of questions.

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