Getting Ready for the Interview

When we interview people, we ask questions. These are not just any questions that come into our heads. Some of us make lists of the things we want to learn about before the interview. Others write down the questions we want to ask.

Some questions are better than others. We look for the ones that will get the most information. We try to ask questions that will not lead people to give us the answer we expect. It is better to ask "how did you feel about doing that work?" than "I guess you really liked that," or "you must have hated that." That way, we know the person is not giving the answer he or she thinks we would like to hear. We ask different people the same questions, to see how their answers match up.

Most of the time, the more you know, the easier it is to find out new things. Before we interview anyone, we try to learn as much as we can. We look in old newspapers, in archives and in books. We make notes. This information helps us to ask the right questions. Most people will take more time to answer your questions and give better answers if they see that you understand what they are talking about. Asking the right questions is one way of doing this.

Before doing interviews, we wonder if some questions might upset the person being interviewed. If so, how can we keep away from those questions? Sometimes, though, we have to ask about upsetting things. For example, if you want to learn about the lives of Chinese people in St. John's in the early part of the twentieth century, racial prejudice is an important topic. Racial prejudice is the bad feelings some people have about someone who comes from a different country or has different coloured skin. Racial prejudice makes people act unfairly. Most people would rather not talk about racial prejudice, especially to someone who is not a member of their own group.

If you are going to ask questions that may upset the person you will interview, you need to think about how to ask those questions. Some questions should be left until the end of the interview, or until you have done more than one interview with a person. Sometimes, we do not know what upsets people until we ask the wrong questions. This is not the nicest way to learn, but it teaches us a lot.