Lesson Two: Types of Interviews & Recording
There are three key ways you can conduct an interview, and each come with their own benefits and disadvantages. These are:
Face-to-face
Over the phone
Or via email
FACE-TO-FACE
Generally, a face-to-face interview is the best option and the one you should always attempt to organise first. This might not always be possible however, because, I don’t know, the world is locked down due to a pandemic.
But, if you can, meeting with someone in person can help you understand a lot more about them and give you context to frame your interview. You might be able to gain more for your article based on their manner, how they are dressed or how they interact with their surroundings. If you’re writing a profile, this kind of contextual information is extremely important for painting a picture of your interviewee through out your article.
If you do get the chance to interview someone in person, it can be tempting to ask them to meet up at your favourite coffee shop for the interview, but I would caution against this. Coffee shops and bars can be very loud and make recording interviews difficult. It’s also important to remember that it is important the interviewee is comfortable, and a new location may not be conducive to that. Where practical and safe, I would suggest interviewing people at their home or place of work. These types of more personal settings also provide important sub-text for the article and give you further insight into your interviewee.
The downsides to face-to-face interviews are largely logistical. Organising when and where to meet at a time that suits you and the interviewee, can be a massive drama. Face-to-face interviews also rule out interviewees with anyone who isn’t local which can be really limiting. Also, and I still can’t believe I’m writing this, if there is a global pandemic happening, face-to-face interviews probs aren’t the best option.
PHONE/TELE-INTERVIEWS
Phone, skype or zoom interviews are probably the most common interviews you will do. These tele-interviews allow you to get rich, original quotes but are also more flexible and therefore easier to arrange than a face-to-face interview. If you can conduct the interview over video chat, you’ll still be able to pick up the majority of mannerisms from your interviewee. You can even ask them to give you a video tour of their workspace or home, or to show you their favourite objects in the room to get more personal content if you are writing a profile.
Other important things to consider before conducting a phone or video call interview is that you have a strong internet connection, to try and avoid any technical difficulties. If your interviewee is overseas or in another state to you, also be aware of time zones and only call at appropriate hours.
Although it sometimes seems like the easiest and most convenient method, try to avoid conducting interviews via email. When interviewing via email you tend to either get very short answers or very long answers, but either way, these answers are never organic and are often the result of the interviewer carefully crafting their response. As a result, your quotes will rarely be casual in tone and can often sound more like a press release.
However, there are some circumstances where an email interview is the best option. This may include:
When the interviewee may not speak the same language as you conversationally and may feel more comfortable reading,
When a interviewee is deaf or hearing impaired
OR
When the interviewee is essential to the article and won’t do the interview any other way.
You should try to avoid email interviews when you are writing a profile as the quotes, personality and manner of the person ARE the story, and these are simply not as strong in an email interview.
RECORDING YOUR INTERVIEW
Regardless of if you do a phone interview or face-to-face interview, you should always audio record your interview. This is important to ensure you don’t misquote an interviewee. You can also take notes during the interview, however this can be off-putting for inexperienced interviewees. It feels a lot more natural to record off your phone or laptop and just focus on having a conversation with your interviewee.
BEFORE YOU RECORD
Before you begin recording the interview there are a few simple steps you should follow:
1. Always ask if the interviewee is comfortable with you recording. Do not start recording without them being aware that you are recording.
2. Test your recorder. Place your phone, laptop or other device on the table and test that it is picking up the audio. If the participant is speaking too softly, move the recorder rather than asking them to speak up. They will likely forget to keep speaking at the volume during the interview and you may lose important conversation.
3. If at any point, before, during or after your interview a participant asks for something to be “Off Record” stop your recorder. Do not record anything your interviewee considers off record.
HELPFUL SOFTWARE & SERVICES
It is important before starting any interview that you have the necessary software to record your interview. Most phones come with built in audio recorders and these usually work perfectly for recording a conversation. However, there are a few services which will make your life even easier.
1. OTTER.AI
Otter turns your voice conversations into smart notes that you can easily search and share. This means it can record your interviews AND transcribe them while you conduct your interview, saving you a heap of time. Otter is free for up to 600 minutes a month and they do not sell or share your data.
2. REV.COM
Rev.com is an audio to text transcription service for if you’ve already recorded your audio and need to have it transcribed. Audio is transcribed by actual people, so although it may be a more accurate transcription, it’s not as secure in terms of source anonymity.