The question “Did you like the new schedule?” seems like a good start for an interview. But then your source says, “Yes.” The interview is over and your notebook has very little to work with for the article. This can often happen with initial interviews. The question is okay, but it allows your source to give you a one-word answer rather than describing what has happened or what the effect of the change is.
An interview question with better potential leads to a more specific answer. Instead of asking, “Did you like the new schedule?” you could ask, “What has changed in your day since the new schedule started?” This second kind of question gives the source a chance to talk about time, routine, difficulties, or a detail that could serve as an angle for follow-up. The second kind of question may yield a quote, but it may also yield information for context, information you can fact check, or information that could give you a better sense of how to write your article.
Before the interview, think of the angle for the article and write down questions that begin with how, what, when, where, or why. These kinds of words are not always going to lead to good questions, but they usually encourage a fuller response than a yes or no question. Asking “How did you hear about it?” gets you more than “Did you hear about it?” Similarly, asking “What information was missing?” tells you more than “Was the announcement clear?” The idea is not necessarily to keep the source speaking for a long time, but rather to get answers that will help you write the story.
You can also plan questions that you might want to ask later, or your own follow-up questions, before you enter the interview room. A follow-up question gives the source the chance to elaborate, explain, or give examples. If the source says something like “The change has made the mornings more difficult,” you could ask, “What about the mornings has become more difficult?” Or if they say something like “Many people have complained about the change,” you could ask, “Who has complained and what was their complaint?” Follow-up questions help to avoid vague statements by your source and will help you gather information that is checkable.
Write down five yes or no questions on your story topic and then rewrite each of them as an open-ended question. For example, rewrite the question “Did the meeting address the problem?” as “What problem has the meeting not yet addressed.” Or rewrite the question “Do students utilize the new study room?” as “When do students seem to be using the new study room?” After you rewrite your questions, go back over them and label whether the question will gather facts, lead to a quote, or serve to provide context. Then you can label your notes with the same categories after your interview so you can sort them out later.
During the interview, keep your questions nearby, but not so that you’re just reading a list of questions at your source. Be willing to write down other questions as your source responds to the questions. For example, if someone says something is “better” or “worse,” “better,” “unfair,” “confusing,” or “successful,” be able to follow-up with a question that requests an explanation or examples. This will often help you come up with the best quote; it will often come after a source has given an answer, which is moving from a general response to one that is more specific. Keep these quotes in your notes, along with the questions they answer, in a way that distinguishes them from paraphrased responses, so that you can separate the two when you write.
Review your notes as you leave the interview. Make a list of the questions you did not answer, the sources for claims that did not include the source, and items you need fact checking on, and review this as you write. A good interview is not just the kind of interview that makes the interviewee or the interviewer feel good. A good interview is the kind that makes the writing of the article easier; that gives you facts that you can use, attributions for your facts, sources and quotes for your quotes, and a better understanding of how far you can go with the facts in your article.