• Set-up an appointment early on.  Make sure you schedule ample time to set-up, test, and conduct the interview.  Also remember that you will probably want to gather b-roll material such as photos, shots of the interviewee doing things related to their interview, close-ups of items and objects that illustrate what they are talking about, etc.  Plan ahead.
• Do your background research ahead of time. Try to understand the general historical context that your interviewee is likely to talk about.  This will better help you craft questions.
• Let the interviewee do the talking.  Remember, you are not there to talk, you are there to ask questions and to listen.  Do not interrupt your interviewee as it breaks their concentration and flow of ideas.
• A chronological order to your questions are most likely the most effective way to structure an oral history interview.  Show how the interviewee’s beliefs and ideas developed over time. A good place to start is with childhood stories.  Don’t worry if the subject starts jumping around the chronology.  It will help show how they make connections between the past and the present.
• Avoid simple “yes” and “no” questions and others that simply illicit fact.  Go after stories and narratives that fully describe their lived experience.  Try asking questions that start with “Tell me about…” or “Can you describe…” and other open ended questions that will help the interviewee decide what is important in their lives.  Be careful not to ask leading questions that get at what you, researcher, wants or expects to hear (ie- “Don’t you think that…”).  Ask broad questions first then ask follow-up questions about more specific things.
• Ask concise and focused questions.  Avoid asking multiple part questions that are too long.  Ask what you mean.
• Keep the language that you use understandable.  This particularly applies to academics- avoid jargon for jargon’s sake.
• Make the interviewee feel comfortable.  Don’t start off asking highly personal or potentially sensitive questions.  Save these for later on in the interview as they become more comfortable.
• Part of your role as a researcher performing an oral history, is to challenge the subject when they seem to be glossing over aspects that you deem to be important.  This should be done politely and firmly, but in a way that does not antagonize them.  Try to ask questions that make you appear in a neutral stance, such as “Arguments I have heard…” or “So-and-so would disagree with you on…”, or “Criticisms at the time included…blank…what do you think about them?”

(Adapted from the UCLA Oral History Project “Oral History Interviewing Tips”)

Additional Resources:

• Step-by-Step Guide to Oral History
• Oral History Society Homepage
• Oral History Online