Database Reference
In-Depth Information
voice) recorder to record the interview.
You conduct interviews to gather specific
information about the organization, so it's important that you establish a detailed
record of each interview. If you find it difficult to conduct an interview and take
notes at the same time, you should enlist one of the participants as your assistant
and have him take notes for you. (This is one good way to encourage participation
from people who are normally quiet or reserved.) Choose your assistant carefully
because the notes may suffer if he is at all distracted by the proceedings. Another
option you have available is to use a digital recorder to record the interview. This
might prove to be a better way to handle your notes because the digital recorder
will capture the interview more accurately, and you'll be able to determine exactly
who provided you with a given piece of information. (Be sure you first obtain per-
mission from each participant if you do decide to record the interview. There may
be privacy or confidentiality issues at stake and you don't want to get yourself into
any kind of trouble.)
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Give everyone your equal and undivided attention.
This is a crucial point for you
to remember—you must pay complete attention to the person who is speaking, and
do so sincerely. If you give a participant the impression that you're bored, uninter-
ested, or preoccupied, he will immediately reduce his level of participation within
the interview. On the other hand, he will probably participate quite enthusiastically
if he sees that you are interested in what he's saying and has your undivided atten-
tion.
I'm sure you know that there will be times when a participant responds to your
questions with vague or incomplete answers. He may respond this way for several
reasons. It may be that he doesn't quite know how to express the ideas he wants to
convey or that he's not at liberty to divulge certain information. It could also be
that he's just not comfortable talking about himself and what he does or that he is
suspicious of you for some reason.
You'll just have to be patient and make him feel at ease so that he will provide you
with the information you need. For example, you could try to state your best ap-
proximation of what he's said thus far and ask if it is what he meant to say.
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Keep the pace of the interview moving.
You've probably attended meetings during
which a particular point was belabored or much time was spent trying to extract in-
formation from a reluctant participant. You can prevent this from happening during
your interviews by setting personal limits on the time you'll allow for a question to
be answered and the time you'll spend on a specific topic. Don't inform the parti-
cipants about this limit; instead, indicate that you'll table the point for now so that
the meeting can proceed. Be sure you get in touch with the owner of the database
