Conducting Interviews

I've conducted interviews before, and listening to other people's experiences interviewing a classmate was really interesting. We had some of the same questions, and the interviewer heard much more than the answers. I've been thinking about structured, semi-structured, and unstructured questions for my case study. The feedback on the interviews is helping me create better questions. It's going to be difficult for me to have interviews with some of the stakeholders, at least face to face. I won't be going with a single organization or entity, and my questions have to be tied together to bring about the answers to the literacy question I'm trying to ask. Susan Gale, you are very perceptive when it comes to interpreting answers. Even when I was the one being interviewed, Lisa brought out a point that I need to be reminded of. Eye contact. There is sometimes a cultural overtone to it. I remember reading about students having trouble in a California school because the teacher thought the children were being deceptive and evasive. It was brought to her attention that in some cultures making eye contact with a figure of authority is disrespectful, and the children had been properly raised in the eyes of their parents. Dr. Muth is correct in indicating that we need to be very aware of non-verbal communication, especially as the interviewer. An interviewee's body can sometimes provide the comfort level the person is feeling with the questions. I know it takes a lot of practice to become a good interviewer. In addition to your questions, we talked about having to be aware of any biases you bring to the table. Yes, you rehearse your questions before your interview, but you also, in my opinion, have to rehearse your body language. My thoughts for today : )