St. Luke Drawing the Virgin, by Rogier van der Weyden, mid-15th century (credit: Wikipedia)
Conducting interviews for a research project can be difficult. As an undergraduate, you’ve only just started to learn about your topic—whether industrial-labor relations in the Old West or modern-day separatist movements in Catalonia and Quebec. Your respondents, on the other hand, depending on the project, will either be experts in their fields or people who have experienced first-hand what you’ve only studied from afar. You’re afraid that you might come off as uninformed, insensitive, or banal. You’re afraid that the interview won’t go anywhere, that you’ll waste your time and that of your subject.
These are persistent anxieties that I’ve had to navigate and overcome. Three summers ago, as a Laidlaw Scholar, I spent two months interviewing journalists and academics about the impact of large language models on American and British newsrooms. I had never conducted an interview before (not even for a school newspaper!) and, in retrospect, had very little idea of what I was getting myself into. I made plenty of mistakes, learned on the fly, and came out of the summer with 21 conversations that I then cobbled together into a long-form research paper. It was an arduous but rewarding process. To make your interviewing experience a little less arduous and, hopefully, a little more rewarding, here are some tips and tricks I picked up along the way:
- When you’re scouting out potential respondents, cast a wide net. Most will not respond to your emails, and of those who do, many will not have the time or bandwidth for an interview. This is not your fault. When I conducted my own project, I had to email over 300 people over the course of several weeks just to reach a final tally of 21. I spent much more time looking up names and emails than I did talking to people. Do not get discouraged.
- A research interview is not a news interview. Although it depends on the type of project and the role that interviews play within it, in general, you should care more about what your respondents say and less about how they say it. A successful interview is one in which you, the researcher, learns something valuable—a new thread of inquiry, an overlooked data point, a story corroborated. How your respondent communicates that information is largely immaterial.
- Do your due diligence. Ask the respondent whether or not it’s alright to record the interview—and if they say it is, take them up on that offer (you’ll be grateful later on). Let them know ahead of time how long you expect the interview to last. Be entirely upfront about how the interview might factor into your broader research program: whether you plan on quoting, whether respondents will remain anonymous, etc. Be prepared to adjust the format and structure of the interview accordingly.
- Do your research ahead of time, and do a lot of it. Always know who you’re talking to and why you’re talking to them—and make sure they know that you know. This will help make the interview run smoothly and efficiently and will direct you away from information that you could have found just as easily on the internet. Interview time is precious; make good use of it.
- Bring a list of questions, but don’t feel like you have to stick to them. Be flexible. A compelling, well-thought out opening question is a must-have. A fleshed-out tenth question is less important. A good interview will veer in unexpected directions, forcing you to think on your feet. Don’t be afraid to ask your respondents to elaborate if you feel an answer was insufficient. Chase the wild geese and don’t worry about covering up your tracks.
- Don’t be discouraged if an interview is suddenly derailed or if one of your questions is met with a negative response. You’re still learning. Research projects at the undergraduate level are educational experiences. Your work, however interesting, is not going to change the world. But the lessons it teaches you just might.
- End the interview by asking your respondent if there’s anything else they’d like to note or mention. There’s a chance that your conversation sparked a memory or inspired them to reconsider something they said earlier. Give them the space to air everything out.
I hope these tips and tricks are helpful as you embark on your research journey. Please feel free to ask me any questions about this post or my experiences at [email protected]. Happy interviewing!
Joseph Karaganis, CC’26