Interview Instructions
Independent Study
During your career in social services, you will likely do many interviews, formal and
informal, of co-workers, clients, public figures perhaps. Interviewing an expert is one
good way to discover information you need to know.
Objective
1.
Interview a professional: choose a professional who works in the field you want
to eventually work in. The focus of this interview will be writing: what type of writing
does this professional typically produce?
2.
Another goal of this interview is to procure examples of documents that this
professional produces. One of the requirements of this course includes an independent
study, where you write various documents. It will be helpful for you to know what
documents professionals in your field typically write so you can reproduce them if you
choose.
Preparation
First, read Chapter 5 to get a good foundation about how to interview someone.
To prepare to interview someone, you need to know what it is you wish to learn from the
interviewee. You need to state this clearly and specifically. Look at the two statements
below. Which is more likely to yield a meaningful goal for an interview?
I want to know how J. Smith feels about suicide in our society.
I want to know whether J. Smith considers suicide an ethical choice and her reasons for thinking
this way.
A meaningful goal permits you to construct a set of relevant, clear questions organized
toward your goal. It helps you decide what to ask, what to follow-up, and what not to
ask. It helps you to get the interviewee back on track; most interviewees get onto side
issues and depend on you to lead them back to the main point.




Decide what you want to know. Make a list of persons who might be
interviewed.
Contact potential interviewees. Tell them the purpose of the interview.
Select an interviewee. Arrange an interview time of 30-45 minutes. Arrange
time and location. Ask for samples of writing done of the job that you might take
with you after the interview.
Construct a list of questions. Avoid yes/no or fill-in-the-blank questions.
Instead ask open-ended questions that offer room for follow-up and development,
such as the following: tell me about…, can you explain…, why do you say…, what
1

advice would you give…, how would you go about…, can you give me an
example….
Organize your questions. Know them well enough that you do not need to read
them off your list. This doesn’t mean you can’t deviate from your list, but have a
definite direction in mind before you begin.
Conduct the Interview

Arrive promptly. Introduce yourself and review the purpose of the interview.
Conduct the interview according to your plan. Afterwards, thank the interviewee.
Ask for any sample materials the interviewee has promised. Ask the interviewee
if you may phone to clear up any questions that occur when you are writing up the
interview.
After the Interview

Go somewhere close to debrief. Write out your notes about the interview and all
that you remember within 30 minutes of the interview if you did not tape it.
Write up the Interview

Prepare an in-depth article suitable for a newsletter or training publication
in your field. The text will be based on the interview you did with the
professional in your field. UMD professors are not to be interviewed unless you
and your instructor agree that it is appropriate in your case.
There are two ways you can write up the interview:
1. Compile the information in paragraph format, or
2. Transcribe the conversation in a question-answer format. If you choose this option,
you must add a sentence or two after each answer to explain the relevance of the
interchange. Additionally, a concluding paragraph at the end of the paper will explain the
significance of the information overall.
Remember that this is a writing class, so focus on the interviewee’s use of writing on the
job—successes, failures, varied uses of writing, how the interviewee learned “on the job”
writing, recommendations for novice practitioners in the field.
The information you procure will be invaluable to your newsletters, proposal, and
independent study documents, so keep them in mind when you are making up your
interview questions.
Start with an introduction of who you interviewed, what position that person holds, where
the person works, and a few details about your first impressions. Use a conversational or
informal tone and style. After the first introduction of your subject, refer to the person by
last name only.
2
Your paper can be single-spaced with a space between paragraphs. A good guideline for
length is two, single-spaced pages.
3