This session explored the basics of asking interview questions, and gave our team a chance to brainstorm questions and test them out on a group of sample interviewees.
We first discussed three main tips to asking good questions:
- Ask open-ended questions rather than questions that get only a one-word answer
- Ask follow-up questions that help the interviewee go deeper and share more details
- Stay on topic – while it can be tempting and easy to go off on tangents, it’s important tokeep the conversation oriented to what we are trying to learn
We quickly broke out into small groups to brainstorm questions and practice leading interviews. For this activity, we had invited a few people in our immediate networks who we knew could speak to the topic. Two Smith College graduate students and one undergraduate SPARC Fellow played the role of the interview subjects.
We explained to the team that each of our guest interview subjects was someone who received some kind of support from an out of school or community based program while they were going through the transition out of high school. Each team’s task was to find out what about the program and their experience helped them navigate the transition. The groups first worked together to develop a short list of questions and then they tested them out.
A few of the questions that emerged, which we then adapted and refined for our interview protocol included:
- What kind of specific support did you receive from the program that was different from what you received at school and how did it affect you?
- What are the ways the program supported you when you were in high school? How about after high school?
- What made you want to join or get involved with that specific program?
- What kept you in the program? What kept you going back?
These questions provided a solid starting point for us to further refine our questions in the coming weeks.