Preparing Interview Questions

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What questions should I ask in an oral interview?

Preparing Interview Questions

Once you've decided to do an interview, you need to prepare your questions.

To get the fullest (and most interesting!) answers from your interview subject, you should avoid using close-ended questions - those that require only "yes" or "no" answers. Use open-ended questions that will encourage your interviewee to talk, such as "Tell me what you remember about your family's first home."

Once you have determined what questions you will ask, place each question on an index card for easy use during the interview.

The following sites have lists of some great interview questions for your perusal:

http://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/quest.txt

http://www.rootsweb.com/~genepool/oralhist.htm

http://educate.si.edu/migrations/seek2/sample2.html

   

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