Should we make up a list of questions for the interview?

• You will plan a list of questions, but the interviewer should think of those questions as a guideline only, not a rigid list that must be followed. Often the storyteller will answer your questions without you ever asking them. Take time at the end of each interview to check off all your questions that were covered in that session.
• Sometimes the interview will be like a monologue, with the storyteller doing most of the talking and the interviewer just listening and responding quietly. Other times an interviewee may be quiet and shy and the interviewer will need to encourage him or her to share information.
• You may have prepared tough questions about emotional issues, but you won’t be able to ask those questions unless the interviewee seems comfortable and ready to share this information. It may be the third or fourth meeting before he or she volunteers sensitive information.
• You will need to respect silences or pauses, to give the storyteller time to think.
• Remember that people who know very little about the topic may be listening to the recorded interview years later, so you will need to ask obvious questions and ask for detailed descriptions. Imagine that your grandchildren will be listening to the interview – in 25 years. Maybe they will have never had the opportunity to speak to a unilingual Elder and some of them may have never seen certain tools, clothing or other objects from the past.
• If the interviewee doesn’t offer much information on a topic, the interviewer can use the ‘five W’s’ to encourage more detail – who, what, where, when, how, why.
• Ask open-ended, neutral questions that don’t limit or lead the response. (See Planning Interview Questions, on the next page.)