Nature of questions in oral history interviews

Gholam Reza Azizi
Translated by M. B. Khoshnevisan

2018-05-01


One of the features of oral history interviews which makes it more similar to other kinds of interviews is the arrangement of questionnaire and proper and precise and calculated questions.

Providing the possibility of "generating random questions from the interviewer" in some oral history interviews is similar to how questions are asked in a free or undirected interview. In both of these methods, the interviewee is open to present questions and can respond to the questions brought up in a face-to-face way with full or relative freedom. Also in the two interviews, the interviewer is encouraged to express and transfer experiences, beliefs, attitudes, emotions and explanation of events freely and frankly. Even sometimes responding to a question creates another question and in this way, the process of interviewing continues. Even in some oral history interviews especially in the beginning of such interviews in which the interviewer usually leaves the interviewee free to “say whatever he or she likes”, and not binding the people up “in talking only and only within the framework of the question which is asked”, the interviews get closer to fully open ones. In expressing the skills of oral history interviews, Charles Morrisi while explaining about the methods used by him in two oral history projects has referred well to this discussion and writes, “The interview's meeting is the interviewee's performance of a play and he or she should be allowed to run with the ball."

On the other hand, oral history interviews cane be closed or open "in view of new questions".

Also we should not ignore that the interviewer for performing a special project is more interested in collecting part of the interviewees' memoirs, while if the interviewees wanted to write their memories themselves, they might deal with other aspects. Even, a question is raised sometimes so that the individual retells the most important experience among his life experiences. Thus, the interviewers in oral history projects focus more on the project's objective rather than their own personal interests.

Sometimes, oral history interviews get closer to semi-guideline or semi-free ones; the researcher has prepared a number of questions, but does not ask them in the order he or she has noted and encourages the interviewee to talk, trying not to distance from the main goals of the interview.

Radio or TV interviews like oral history ones are in fact a kind of two-sided personal connection for obtaining information. The different seen between these interviews is in fact related to the type of news and information. While in oral history interviews, interviews are conducted to better and more accurate understanding of the past and the use of materials obtained in historiography, in press and radio and TV interviews, dealing with the news in a theatrical and decorative way, in addition to the news itself, is important. On the other hand, press and radio (and TV) interviews and some oral history ones have less similarities together the most important of which are related to the tools and methods applied in audio (and in some cases visual) recording and notices of these interviews.

On the other hand, oral history interviews in some cases get closer to deep ones. Unlike large interview, in this type of interview also known as "targeted conversation", the person is asked about a special subject. Here, the goal is not just for recognizing his or her reaction against a certain event but the reasons behind the considered reaction psychologically and spiritually. The aim of conducting deep interviews is to achieve complicated information such as beliefs, attitudes and experiences of the interviewee. Like deep interviews, in oral history ones, the interviewer needs to carry out "discovering studies" before conducting an interview. Even in an oral history interview which is regarded as an active one, there are cases in which the interviewer "helps the narrator to extract memoirs". The purpose of a centralized interview (the study of the impact of an event or a personal experience on those who have participated in it) also is somehow the understanding of the historical impact of events; and is therefore close to oral history interviews.

Thus, the interviewee, subject and conditions of an interview are the factors which influence the design and implementation of the types of questions and the management of the interview. As the interviewer is suggested not to restrict himself or herself to preplanned questions, he or she is also said to study about the subject before conducting an interview, to ask free combined questions with specific, exploratory and continued ones and to deal with a conversation which is related to large domains of the subject.

As it was mentioned, oral history interviews have similarities and differences with other ones; a feature that has turned it into a professional type of the interview technique. Its features are in high flexibility and change of methods in a way that it has been said the oral history interviewer should be an improvisator and acts according to the existing circumstances.

In conclusion, it should be noted that the products of oral history projects among the sciences and the fields in which the interview is used as a method for accessing information have various applications from different types and aspects. In his article, Dr. Morteza Nouraee has referred to a list of the applications which are as follows:

  • Production of historical books (single and compound)
  • Creation of audio and visual archives
  • Films in various forms (documentation)
  • Artistic museums and fairs
  • Radio programs
  • Educational materials for pupils and teachers
  • Public educational books and videos
  • Internet sites
  • Social participation of quiet classes (lower)
  • Preservation of cultural heritage
  • Education in the field of legal laws and documents
  • Archives of retirees at relevant offices
  • Family history
  • Past-therapy: The elderly and nursing homes*

*You can read the full text in the book "Interview in Oral History: Collection of Articles of the Fourth Expert Meeting and Workshop of Oral History" which has been released by the Oral History Department of the Center for Studies and Research of Resistance Culture and Literature as well as Sooreh Publications. The article is entitled "Morphology of Interview by Relying on Oral History Interviews".



 
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