Life interviews
Tarja Moles helps you get the most out of in-depth interviews
Life interviews are in-depth interviews that help shed light on an individual’s experiences throughout his/her life. If you want to preserve family members’ life histories or engage in other type of biographical writing, here are some tips for how to make the most of life interviews:
Preparation
As with any research, preparation is essential. If you’re interviewing a family member, you may already be familiar with the person and therefore won’t need to do much background research. However, if your interviewee is a public personality and/or someone you don’t know, see what you can find out about him/her. The more you know about the person, the easier it will be to plan the interview.
Composing suitable questions is the next step. If you’re finding this difficult, think about the different life stages and other topics that may be interesting, such as the interviewee’s childhood and family origins, schooldays and later education, working life, hobbies and interests, relationships, later life and any significant turning points or crises.