Tips on interviewing

You hear a lot of criticism of bloggers and their lack of accountability. (I notice that a lot of this criticism comes from print media, who fear us as they fear the hordes of hell.) It’s true that many blogs are just our personal opinions: they’re op-ed pieces rather than research papers.

However, if you want to support your opinion (and maybe spit a little in the eyes of those media moguls), quotations, expert opinions and full-blown interviews can add credibility to a post, and by extension to your site. Here are a few tips for interviewing people to bulk up a post:

Prep work
Be sure you prepare questions in advance. Research the topic a little, and find out what information already exists about it online. Then look for the gaps: what isn’t known yet? What do you need to know to write a compelling post? Sometimes it helps to start with easy, obvious questions (“How did you feel when your circus lion escaped into the town?”) which you can delete as your questions become more detailed and less obvious.

Interview methods
I love email interviews because my subject answers all my questions in writing. This means there will never be a problem with misquoting him. The drawback is that you can’t ask him to expand on his answer, or ask follow-up questions. Also, some people think better when speaking out loud.

If you’re meeting in person, a tape recorder is an excellent investment. You can buy a cheap one for under $20. This frees you from taking notes, and also provides a record of your conversation, so that once again there’s no question of misquoting someone. Do check the recorder before the interview: what’s its range? How does it do with ambient noise? How long is your tape?

Phone interviews are my least favorite, but they can be very informative. It’s possible to buy a tape recorder that works with your phone, but I don’t have one, so I type notes as the subject talks. Very tiring. However, it can be easier for a lot of people to relax and chatter into a phone, so I wind up with a lot of great material.

Fact-checking
Be sure you get the details right: how do you spell your subject’s name? What’s her title? Was anything said off the record? If so, you’ll need to clarify what is okay to print.

If you have other suggestions for how to conduct an interview, I’d love to read them in the comments.