I had a total of four interviews I conducted for our case study on The Bluest Eye within the past two weeks. My days were certainly packed with travel and preparation.

I started by looking up interview protocols on our course website and making sure I did what was recommended.

The main thing I made sure to do above all else was to express my appreciation. I know the people I spoke with over the past few weeks are very busy professionals, so I wanted them to know that I valued their time, knowledge, and viewpoints.

I also did what I could to involve Rosanna in the process as much as possible. My schedule is much more flexible than hers, so it was more feasible for me to conduct the interviews these past four days. She helped me prepare by listing some questions to ask each interviewee on a Google Doc. I was sure to list my own questions. Rosanna volunteered to do all the transcriptions, which I will be proofreading and editing as Rosanna adds them to our shared Google Drive.

When scheduling the interviews, I did my best to accommodate to the preferences of the interviewees as far as the day, time, and location went. I also made sure to interview everyone in the way in which they were the most comfortable (in person or over the phone).

Making sure the contracts are signed was also an item I kept in mind.

While conducting the actual interview, I tried to think of some questions that followed up with a statement the interviewee made in a previous answer. I found that I stumbled on this at times and got a little tongue-tied when figuring out what exactly I was trying to ask and how to phrase it. I made it through alright, though.

I also asked each interviewee if there was anything they wanted to add that we hadn’t discussed towards the conclusion of the interview. I figure that you never know what else might be on their minds. You never know what gems they still have to offer.