Must & Must Not(s) in Expert Evaluation (Continue)

Expert Evaluation is a Part of the Process

Hamid Qazvini
Translated by Natalie Haghverdian

2019-2-12

It was stated in the previous article that every oral history project, interview assessment and evaluation, prior to content production is a common practice and at this stage the management or experts, review and assess the interview.

We indicated five points for expert review and now we continue:

8- One of the responsibilities of the expert is to identify the advantages and disadvantages of the interview with the aim of rectifying weak points and reinforcing the strong points. It is not suitable for the expert to focus on the weak points and reject the interview in whole. There are many amateur interviewers who have just started and for a number of reasons are unable to handle the interview properly. The approach to the work of this group should be encouraging and reforming and not elimination or rejection.

9- The expert should assess the level of success in the interview to discover the hidden aspects and realized the interview techniques in the process. Has the interview been successful in extracting the thoughts and memories of the narrator? Has it been led in the right direction? Are proper questions asked or there are weaknesses and ambiguities? Has the narrator been able to comprehend the questions properly and responded accurately?

10- The expert can review the interview and assist in the extraction of questions and complementary discussions. The interview team, despite all efforts, might have missed some questions and the expert shall remind such aspects.

11- With competence on the subject, the expert shall warn the interviewer and the narrator of any errors and support them to rectify.

12- In the expert evaluation report, it is essential to note the interview discussion topics. Keywords make this process easy.

Considering all the above, expert evaluation of the interview is a natural part of the process which has to be conducted and shall not be perceived as an independent procedure. Hence, the expert selection shall be conducted accurately and the aim of this process is not to embarrass the interviewer or confront their work but to improve the content and interview technique and to support the interviewer to complete his work.