Review the instructions given in class by your instructor and this guide before you begin.
Think about whom you might invite to be interviewed for this project and ask them whether they are willing to tell their story about their Fall 2020 experience. Instructors might encourage students to interview each other in a class and/or to reach out to other students and/or members of the campus community.
Remember, the focus of this particular exercise is on the Fall 2020 experiences of students and/or other members of the SUNY Oneonta / Utica College community, so you might need to ask whether the person you have in mind was enrolled or working at the college at that time.
Examples of whom to interview: current sophomores who were freshmen in Fall 2020; current sophomores, juniors, or seniors who lived on or off campus in Oneonta during Fall 2020; faculty or staff who were working on campus and/or remotely during Fall 2020, including employees who started their jobs that semester.
Invite the person to be interviewed and set up a date/time for the interview. Important to do:
Email the link to the release form to the interviewee and ask them to read and sign it before you meet. (This is a form the interviewee needs to do.)
The interview can be in person (as long as you and the interviewee are both comfortable doing so) or it can be via Teams, Google Meet, Zoom, or whichever app is most convenient for you to use.
If in person, plan ahead on how you’ll record the interview, like a voice recording app on your phone or laptop. You’ll need only an audio file (there’s no video necessary). Also, be sure to have your conversation in a place where it’s quiet so you get a clear recording.
If online, you can use whichever app is most convenient for you to use:
Before you begin recording, start by thanking your interviewee and asking whether they’ve turned in their release form and whether they have questions about this project. Be sure to explain that you are asking them:
(a) to be interviewed for a campus research project and if applicable, this is an assignment for a class that is collecting interviews for the campus research project;
(b) for permission to record and transcribe the interview and include it in a web-based archive that is open to researchers, and they can choose to be anonymous or use their first name, initials, or a pseudonym.
All of the information above is important and necessary, so it might be helpful to have this guide in front of you when you ask the person to be interviewed (see the "Printable Version of this Guide" box in the left navigation column to download that version).
Start your interview and be sure that you are recording! Use the INTERVIEW QUESTIONS from this guide.
After the interview, you may need to download your recording from Teams, Google Meet, Zoom, or whatever app you are using.
Then submit your recorded file to the electronic drop box:
1. Allow the interviewee to do the talking. LISTEN.
2. Be curious and attentive. LISTEN.
3. Don’t interrupt. LISTEN.
4. Don’t worry about silences. Let the interviewee think.
5. Let the interviewee suggest topics to you that you might not have thought of.
6. Allow the interviewee to drift off on to topics not on your outline. These are sometimes the best part of your interview.
[Adapted from materials prepared by Dr. Will Walker, Cooperstown Graduate Program]