Donald A. Ritchie “Conducting Interviews”

Ch. 3 “Conducting Interviews.” from Doing Oral History. Oxford UP, 2003.

Questions for reading:

1.  What questions are the most useful for the interview?
2. “Would you say …?” is this a useful format for interview questions, according to Rictchie?  Yes/no Why? (93)
3. Who to interview first?  Why are gatekeepers useful to interview? (88)
4.  Why do we need a preliminary meeting before the interview?  What do we need time for in addition to the interview during the interview meeting?
5. Why do some folklorists and anthropologists choose noisy locations for their interviews? (91)
6. Why does Walter Lippman matter for the Soviet history?
7.  Are rehearsed stories useful for us?  What do we do with them? (98-99)
8. What role gender/race/difference in national identities can play in interviews?
9. How to conclude the interview?  Should we pay the interviewees?