Here’s One Way to Start Creating Questions
Write down ten reasons why you chose this person to interview. What is it that
interests you about this person? Use your list of reasons to develop questions to
ask.1
Example:
She has lived a long time and seen many changes in her lifetime.
- Q: What do you see as the most positive changes from the time of your
childhood until now?
- Q: What do you see as the negative changes?
He worked with the Hudson Bay in the 1940s and 1950s.
- Q: What do you remember about the fur prices in the 1940s?
- Q: What were the most popular trade goods at that time?
- Q: What role did Inuit see for HBC at that time?
- You may already have your list of questions created during your research
phase in the ‘What We Want to Know’ section of the chart. (See Doing the
Research, the first chapter in this section.) This list can guide the questions you
plan for your interview.
- You might not actually ask any of these questions during the interview, for
several reasons:
- The storyteller may lead the interview in a particular direction.
- The storyteller may be very talkative and not need any prompting from the
interviewer.
- Or the group may feel it isn’t appropriate to lead an Elder by asking lots of
direct questions.
However, the questions are still valuable because they guide your research –
they remind you of what you still want to know to ill in the knowledge gaps.
- You could create the questions as a whole group, using your research chart as
a guide. Or you could break into oral history teams. When you make up your
questions, be sure to keep the background and interests of the storyteller in
mind.
- Create open-ended questions, not questions that would elicit a ‘yes’ or ‘no’
answer or a short answer. See the next page for examples of open-ended and
closed questions.
- Create questions that are neutral, that don’t lead the storyteller. The
interviewees shouldn’t be influenced because they think you expect a certain
response. The interviewer should not show his or her opinions, biases,
attitudes or expectations. See examples of neutral and leading questions two
pages ahead.