Tips for Interviewing
Budding family historians often start by asking their own relatives questions. When I began 40 years ago, the Depression Era topics were not very interesting to me because there were a large number of people I could talk to about their experiences. Today there are fewer people alive who can tell what it was like to live during the Depression. The passage of time means that family historians need to get busy if they wish to preserve their family's stories from this period.
The first step is selecting a relative who can answer your questions. In selecting a subject to interview look for someone who can tell you about their own experiences. Such a person will be able to tell you first-hand accounts they personally lived through. By choosing this relative, they are more likely to pass on accurate information.
When I began interviewing relatives, I was interested in Civil War stories, especially those about the death of my great-great-grandfather. Because no-one from the Civil War era was alive, I found myself talking with elderly children and grandchildren. As a result of hearing second-hand stories by non-participants, I found that the stories did not completely agree. This is a result of time distorting the details in a person's recollections. I treasure these stories despite the flaws in using them. But I have to treat them with less faith of their accuracy.
The structure of questions is the next consideration after selecting a relative. One wants to ask open-ended questions because such questions prompt the telling of stories. If I asked "Did you live during the Depression?" I should expect a "Yes" or "No" answer. This is an example of a direct question. These are used for clarifying a detail in a story.
Most of the time, it is best to ask open-ended questions. Such queries do not ask for specific details. Their focus is very broad. Here is an opening interview question one might ask. "What were your experiences during the Great Depression?" At this point your relative may pick up any train of thought that comes to his mind.
Let your relative tell you whatever comes to their attention. If you are interested in one specific event, it is possible to ask about that event later. It is generally best to ask broad questions first before getting to more specific questions. Oftentimes, one understands why the details come to mind after having first heard a broader discussion of the period.
My experience is that a relative often wanders into the far corners of their mind for events that were significant to them, but are ones that do not seem important to the interviewer. This is what family history is all about. Let the storytelling proceed until there is a pause. Then you can redirect the discussion if you wish.
However, many times the stories treasured most of all come out spontaneously.
The first step is selecting a relative who can answer your questions. In selecting a subject to interview look for someone who can tell you about their own experiences. Such a person will be able to tell you first-hand accounts they personally lived through. By choosing this relative, they are more likely to pass on accurate information.
When I began interviewing relatives, I was interested in Civil War stories, especially those about the death of my great-great-grandfather. Because no-one from the Civil War era was alive, I found myself talking with elderly children and grandchildren. As a result of hearing second-hand stories by non-participants, I found that the stories did not completely agree. This is a result of time distorting the details in a person's recollections. I treasure these stories despite the flaws in using them. But I have to treat them with less faith of their accuracy.
The structure of questions is the next consideration after selecting a relative. One wants to ask open-ended questions because such questions prompt the telling of stories. If I asked "Did you live during the Depression?" I should expect a "Yes" or "No" answer. This is an example of a direct question. These are used for clarifying a detail in a story.
Most of the time, it is best to ask open-ended questions. Such queries do not ask for specific details. Their focus is very broad. Here is an opening interview question one might ask. "What were your experiences during the Great Depression?" At this point your relative may pick up any train of thought that comes to his mind.
Let your relative tell you whatever comes to their attention. If you are interested in one specific event, it is possible to ask about that event later. It is generally best to ask broad questions first before getting to more specific questions. Oftentimes, one understands why the details come to mind after having first heard a broader discussion of the period.
My experience is that a relative often wanders into the far corners of their mind for events that were significant to them, but are ones that do not seem important to the interviewer. This is what family history is all about. Let the storytelling proceed until there is a pause. Then you can redirect the discussion if you wish.
However, many times the stories treasured most of all come out spontaneously.
Labels: Interviewing
posted by Wally Waits at
6:17 AM
2 Comments:
If your grandparents are still alive but are up in age what are some questions that I should ask?
There are two types of interview questions. Soft questions are about those topics that are not easily documentated by written records. These are the more important ones, in my opinion, because the deaths of relatives usually removes this information from history. For example, one may know that a person moved into town about a certain date. That might be shown on a deed record. What may only reside in a memory is that the move was made so that children would have better education opportunities.
I have asked my mother questions about the lighting in her early homes. I have asked about walking to school, chewing gum, why and who in the naming of her children, about her work experiences, voting record, child rearing practices, ice boxes vs. refrigerators, sewing at home, vacations she enjoyed, vacations she didn't enjoy, canning vegetables, teaching school, for example. Sometimes I go back and re-ask some of the same questions with a slightly different emphasis to see if different recollections are remembered.
Be sure to record your interviews on a recorder. Word choices sometimes convey additional meaning when heard years later.
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