RESEARCH TIPS
IN-DEPTH interviews
Tarja Moles offers tips to conducting successful inter views as par t of your research process
In-depth interviews are great for uncovering information that hasn’t been published previously or gaining a firsthand perspective on an individual’s life experiences and views. If you’re thinking of recording your family history or writing someone’s biography, it’s a good idea to include in-depth interviews in your research plan.
Background research
Doing background research can help you formulate more informed questions. It also prevents you from asking about things that have superficial or readily available answers. So, don’t be tempted to skip this step.
For example, if you want to learn about someone’s childhood experiences straight after World War 2, find books about the topic in general and try to locate further information about the locality where the person lived at the time.