Family Interview

Instructions

Kathleen R. Gilbert, Ph.D.

The topic you focus on and the specific questions you select are up to you to choose. Regardless of the focus of your interview, you will be able to analyze the interview in the context of course information. Remember that, at its base, what you are doing is collecting a family story. Collecting family stories can help to "humanize" other family members and help us to know them in a way not possible from superficial social contact. I hope this exercise allows you to have that special contact.

I recommend that you plan on an interview that lasts at least 45 minutes and one that you have thought about and organized before you start. As you set out to do your family interview, keep the following ideas from Once Upon a Memory by Jean Alessi and Jan Miller in mind:

•  Approach (i.e., phone, visit, write) the person with whom you plan to speak before the interview and let him/her know that you're interested in talking. Tell him/her about the project and about what you're hoping to talk about. If it's relevant, you may want to ask this person if he/she has photos or other memorabilia from the time you will be talking about. Also let this person know that he/she has the choice not to answer any questions that he/she may feel are too personal. If you would like to audio or videotape, ask him/her if that would be all right.
• Consider doing this over a meal. They may find that more relaxing.
  
• Think about putting together a set of questions before you go out and sending these to the person you will be interviewing. Having a chance to think about the questions before the interview may make it easier for both of you.
  
• If you plan to audio or videotape, remember to check your equipment before you do the interview.
  
• At the time of the interview:
  
  • Choose a time when you are in the mood to listen. To do any type of interview, you need to be able to pick up on what is said (and sometimes on what is not said). 
    
  • Listen for feelings in the stories and reflect them.
    
  • Choose a spot where you can both be comfortable. Remember eye-to-eye contact is important.
    
  • Be an empathetic listener. Try to identify with the person who is talking. Try to feel his/her feelings. Remember that it's all right to cry, but you should extend the courtesy of offering to end or postpone the interview if he/she becomes upset.
    
  • Clarify as you go along. Pronouns like "he" and "she" are especially likely to be confusing when you go back to them after the interview. Also, most storytelling tends to wander. You can correct for this by summarizing (e.g., "Now let me get this straight. Grandpa was on a ladder outside your window and Great-Grandpa set the watchdog on him?) and by asking about questions like "What happened next?" or "Can you tell me more about ___________?"
    
  • State what you think you heard (e.g., "OK, what it sounds like to me is...") so that you can be sure that you heard what he/she intended to say. It's amazingly easy in an interview to get confused.
    
  • Clarify words you don't understand. Remember, the older the interviewee, the more likely it is that he/she will use slang that you don't understand or to have had life experiences that you may have trouble relating to.
    
  • Use open-ended questions to expand the basic information you get.
    
    • Consider the information you might get from the following questions: "When you and Dad (or Mom) were dating, what was he (she) like?" "What was your first date with Mom (or Dad) like?" "What was it like, the first time you met Grandma and Grandpa, after you and Dad (or Mom) started dating?" "What kinds of things did you do to prepare for my birth?" "How did it feel, when you brought me home the first time?" "What was it like to start working full-time when you had little kids at home?"
      
    • Contrast these with: "Was dating different when you and Dad (or Mom) were dating?" "Did you enjoy your first date with each other?" "Were you nervous or calm when you met Grandma and Grandpa?" "Did you prepare for my birth?" "Were you nervous when you brought me home the first time?" "Did you feel guilty when you went back to work?"
      
    • You may note that you have the potential of much more information from the first set of questions than you will from the second. In fact, with the second set, you could get the following answers: "Yes." "Pretty much." "Nervous." "Yes." "Of course." "Very." and nothing else.

If you are nervous about doing this interview, or find that you are interested in doing more interviews, here is a short list of resources that you may want to look at.

Go to the Interview Grading Sheet and print out a copy. Be sure to include a copy of the grading sheet with the writeup of your interview when you turn it in. You will lose 5 points automatically, if the grading sheet is not included.

Go to Course Syllabus Page.

Questions? Contact the course instructor at gilbertk@indiana.edu.

1996-8, Kathleen R. Gilbert, Ph.D. All rights reserved. Last updated August 31, 1998.