An interview is the best way to collect specific information about some person’s opinions, activities, or interests.
An interviewer should formulate his questions in advance and include as many open-ended questions as possible (open-ended questions are those beginning with “what”, “when”, “where”, “who”, “why”, and “how”). Some open-ended questions prepared in advance may diminish the pauses in conversation.
An interviewer should avoid asking too many personal questions, and rather concentrate upon the primary topic of the interview. Also, an interviewer should politely interrupt the protracted or rambling responses by asking more precise questions. The collected information should be organized in the form of an interview paper.
The interview paper should contain the information about the interviewee, followed by the formulation of the discussed topic and explanation why this topic is important for the interviewer. An interview paper may also retell the parts of conversation that seem important for the interviewer, as they explain the selected topic. It is preferable that the interview is represented by an indirect speech, and only important expressions are quoted. The paper should be concluded by the formulation of the overall opinion and final conclusion about the subject of an interview.
