Conducting a One-on-One Conversation

Tips for Coalition Members

The tips listed below will help you to conduct a successful interview. While there is no “right” or “wrong” way to conduct an interview, your goals should be to make the interviewee feel comfortable and make the conversation feel natural.

Planning and Introductions

  • Be aware of power dynamics and relationships between people. If possible, attempt to interview people who you do not already know (or do not know well) to help reduce conflicts of interest and promote honest discussions and feedback from participants. Be mindful that you do not interview anyone who may be motivated to say what they think you want to hear, rather than their honest opinions. This may arise there is a power-imbalance between the interviewer and interviewee.
  • Be accommodating and make the interviewee feel comfortable. When inviting participants to take part in conversations, let them know the goals and purpose that they will serve for the coalition. Do what you are able to to meet interviewee’s preferences: for example, some may prefer to have a conversation over the phone, while others may prefer meeting in-person. You may consider offering to meet them for coffee (and have the Planning and Implementation Grant treat).
  • Frame the conversation to know that you value their time and opinions. Re-iterate that there are no “right” and “wrong” answers, and that you are most interested in hearing their opinions.
  • Let the interviewee know what to expect. This will include telling them how long the interview will probably take and what kind of questions you will be asking them.
  • Be on-time. Whether it is a phone interview or an in-person interview, you will want to be on-time or, preferably, a few minutes early. The person you are interviewing is volunteering their time to talk to you, so be respectful of that.

Conducting the Interview

  • Read through the interview script a few times before you do your first interview. If possible, do a practice interview with another person. This will help you feel more comfortable with the questions.
  • Try not to sound too much like you are just reading off of a script. You don’t want to sound like you are a robot. That will not make for an enjoyable conversation for you or the participant. Use verbal cues such as “mmm hmm” to let the interviewee know you are actively listening.
  • Ask follow up questions if you don’t understand a person’s response. You can say things like “Can you elaborate on that?” or “I’m having a hard time understanding, can you explain it in another way?”
  • If someone says something interesting that you would like to learn about more, feel free to ask them more questions about that topic. It is ok to ask a question that isn’t on the script if you think it will result in useful information. Remember, this is a conversation that is supposed to help you better understand underage drinking in your community, so if you need to shape the conversation to better your understanding, go for it.
  • Watch the time. You’ll want to make sure you can get to every question, so be mindful if it is taking longer than it should be.
  • Stay on track. It is not uncommon for people to go on tangents on topics once they get going. If someone is getting off track, you can nudge them back by saying something like “Thanks for that input. I’d like to move the conversation back to…”
  • Stay neutral. It is ok to react to things that the participant brings up, but make sure you do so in a way that is non-judgmental. Saying something like “that’s a really great point, thanks for sharing” is more appropriate than saying something like “that’s terrible, I can’t believe that’s happening in our community!”
  • Take notes during the conversation. When taking notes, prioritize key phrases. Consider using a shorthand system that works best for you in the moment, and flesh out abbreviations or partial words later. To help reduce bias in your notes, paraphrase what you heard so that they are able to make corrections, if needed. Try your best to capture any unscripted prompt questions used in your conversation.
  • Clean up your notes and complete your reflection questions immediately after your interview. If you wait until later, you are very likely to forget important points that were mentioned during the conversation. Remember,you will be sharing your notes with other coalition members, so it will be very important to include a level of detail that will guarantee your notes make sense to others.