Is214 Spring 2004
Assignment 3: Interviewing

For this assignment you will interview and be interviewed by someone in this class. If you are doing interviews as part of your project, if possible interview your partner on a topic related to the project, so that so that this is a dry run for those interviews. If that's not feasible, pick a topic (or two) of mutual interest about which you can ask a number of questions.

Aim for interviews of at least ½ hour to one hour in length. RECORD YOUR INTERVIEWS. We have digital recorders on reserve in the computer lab. Many people last year used their own computers or recorders.

Before the interview, develop an interview schedule, i.e. a set of questions in the order in which you plan to ask them. During the interview, you may need to re-order.

Transcribe at least part of an interview -- either this interview, or one you are doing for your project.

The rule of thumb is that it takes three times as long to transcribe as the interview itself, so you don't have to transcribe the whole thing, but you should spend at least an hour transcribing. I have an audiotape transcription machine that I can make available in the computer lab, but last year everyone used their own equipment. (Windows media player lets you slow down the replay, so that it's easy to key from.)

In sum, you will do the following:
-Interview someone else in the class
-Be interviewed by someone else in the class
-Do an hour of transcribing of either one of these interviews OR another interview for your project.

Each pair of you, please turn in your papers together so that I have both the interviewer's and interviewee's reports.

Turn in:

• A short statement about the goals of your interview.
• Your interview schedule (i.e., list of questions).
• If applicable, a revised interview schedule: how you would do it differently were you to do it again. (This includes turning in a revision to show how you actually asked the questions, as opposed to how you planned to: changes in wording or question order.)
• Your transcription.
• A short report on the interview for which you were the interviewer. Not the transcription, but a summary of key findings.
• Two reflections: one on being the interviewee, one as the interviewer.
• As interviewee, a page or so of feedback to the interviewer: what advice would you give him/her on questions, but especially on behavior, attitude, and the like during the interview? (Give them a copy of this, as well as one for me.)

Due Tues, Feb 24. Please be concise while thorough; no part of this needs to be very long.