Interview: what it is, characteristics, types, elements, structure, example

The interview It is a genre of journalism and at the same time a tool used by different disciplines to obtain information on an issue, event or problem by asking questions.

It is basically a dialogue between the interviewer, who asks the questions, and the interviewee, who provides the answers. It is a technique that is used especially in journalism and in organizations or companies.

In journalism, interviews are conducted by journalists with famous people or who have been witnesses or protagonists of some outstanding event. In job interviews, questions are asked of a candidate who aspires to be chosen to work in a company.

Interview characteristics

– The interview generally revolves around a specific topic: an event, a celebration, an accident, a publication, an appointment, etc.

– Before an interview, at least two steps must be taken: research the subject or character to be interviewed and contact the interviewee.

– It is important to elaborate beforehand the questions that you want to ask. The questions should be short and simple, so that the answers are clear.

– Since it is not possible to foresee all the answers and where they may lead, it is essential to know how to improvise questions, based on some interesting information that arises in the interviewer’s answers.

– To carry out an interview, you must have a recorder or some digital device (phone, tablet or camera), to have a backup of what was discussed in the interview.

What is an interview for?

An interview is used to get some kind of specific information through a process of participation and conversation between two or more people. It is applied in fields such as:

Journalism: to obtain information from a source.
Medicine: Obtaining as much information as possible about the patient’s conditions.
Ethnography, anthropology and sociology: have a better perspective on the sample or the behaviors that are intended to be studied.
Job: to evaluate knowledge, experience, attitude and aptitudes of job candidates.
Tax and police investigation: to obtain information from those who may have witnessed a crime.
Therapy: to obtain information on the symptoms or conditions of a patient.

Elements of an interview

Here is a list of common elements of an interview:

Interviewer: the person who conducts the interview and asks the questions.
Interviewed: the person who is being interviewed and gives the answers.
Purpose: the reason for the interview and what is expected to be obtained from it.
Place: the place where the interview takes place, which must be suitable for the conversation and allow it to develop smoothly.
Questions and topics: a list of questions and topics to be addressed during the interview, which should be designed to obtain the desired information.
Registration and documentation: A way of recording and documenting the interview, which may include audio or video recordings, written notes, or a transcript of the conversation.

In addition to these basic elements, an interview can also include other elements such as a script or a pre-established structure to follow during the conversation, as well as the participation of more than one interviewer or the use of different interview techniques. Everything will depend on the purpose of the interview and the specific needs of each situation.

Types of interviews

There are different types of interviews:

According to the purpose

Interviews are conducted for different purposes. According to this they can be classified as:

Biographical or trajectory interview: inquires into the life and work of the person interviewed. The questions revolve around his childhood, family, place of origin, studies and his most outstanding events.
Job interview: are interviews that the employee or owner of a company does to a candidate for a job. The interviewer asks questions about the interviewee’s education, experience, attitudes, abilities, and other personal characteristics and traits.
opinion interview: The objective is to obtain concrete opinions around an important event or event. The interviewer presents the facts or issues and attempts to elicit a statement from the interviewee on the issue raised.
research interview: In addition to being used in the media, it is also a tool for disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, psychology, and areas such as advertising and marketing.
Situational or current interview: They are made around an event or happening, in which the interviewees can be witnesses, survivors or authority figures.
Documentary or testimonial interview: its objective is to describe a social or cultural situation. Examples of this kind of interview are those that are carried out in marginal areas, indigenous communities or institutions. Often there is more than one interviewee.
mixed interviews: in an interview several classes can be present. For example, a current affairs interview can include biographical and testimonial aspects.

According to the structure

structured interview: the interviewer has prepared the questions that he is going to ask, he asks them all and does not ask any more.
unstructured interview: the interviewer does not have some questions prepared and asks as the conversation progresses, depending on what the interviewee tells him.
semi-structured interview: the interviewer has a list of questions prepared, but asks other questions depending on the information given by the interviewee. This is a more flexible interview.

Structure/parts of an interview

An interview must have the following elements: title, entrance or introduction, body and closing or conclusion.

Qualification: It is not always chosen by the interviewer, but by the director or editor-in-chief, if it is a newspaper or magazine. An important phrase that emerged during the interview is often used. In job interviews the title is usually simply the name of the candidate.
Introduction: the interviewer presents the most relevant data about the interviewer and the reason for the interview; information is also provided on the setting and circumstances surrounding the interview.
body or development: is the bulk of the interview, consisting of questions and answers. The interviewer must respect and transcribe the interviewee’s answers, but as far as possible eliminating or correcting stutters or gaps (common in recorded interviews).
closure or conclusion: the subject of the interview is resumed and the interviewer is asked a question that allows him to insist on what he wants to highlight. The interviewer can also close the interview with a comment of their own.

interview example

Below we show an example of a fictitious interview of a journalist with the president of a country.

Qualification: “Doctors, nurses and teachers are our highest priority”, affirmed the President of the Republic.

Introduction: When Lisandro Pedernal (Santa María, 1980) was elected by an overwhelming majority as the new President of the Republic in September 2019, he had no way of imagining that he would spend his first year in office fighting a pandemic that practically paralyzed the planet and forced to lead the country through unknown territory.

Today he received us in the office of the Minister of Health, shortly before the meeting with the Emergency Cabinet, and he was kind enough to answer our concerns about the management of the emergency.

body or development

Interviewer: How do you assess the performance of your government in the face of the coronavirus pandemic?

President: Both for us and for the rest of the world’s nations, this crisis was totally unprecedented. We had to face an invisible enemy, listening to contradictory instructions from international organizations. And yet we were able to take the appropriate measures in time, avoid the collapse of the health system and prevent a greater number of deaths.

AND: The latest measures that have been taken, such as the opening of museums and the return to face-to-face classes, suggest that the worst is over, do you think so?

Q: Emergency measures for almost a year met their goal, and most of the population also complied with mandatory social distancing and staying at home. But the time has come to reopen public and private activities, to resume activities, although with the precautions that remain in place, such as the mandatory use of masks. And yes, the worst is over, but we can’t let our guard down.

AND: There are those who affirm that the country could not take it anymore, are the measures suspended for economic reasons?

Q: The measures are being relaxed without being completely suspended, because the virus has been confined to some regions of the country, because we already have the vaccines, and because the population needs to have social interaction again. Certainly the economy will benefit, but so will children and families.

AND: The first batch of vaccines arrived last week. Do you already know how it will be distributed?

Q: Doctors, nurses and teachers are our highest priority. Then older people or people with conditions that put their lives at risk, and then the rest of the population.

AND: Politicians and public officials?

Q: Like the rest of the population. A policeman, an administrative employee or a military man are not more important than a hardware store employee, a taxi driver or a housewife.

AND: Will there be vaccines for everyone this year?

Q: One of the points of the meeting that is about to begin is precisely about the schedule for the arrival of batches of vaccine and how it will be distributed throughout the nation. We believe so, that there will be for the entire population, although there are imponderables, factors that we cannot control.

AND: As which?

Closing

An assistant signals to the President, who looks at the time and gets up to make his way to the meeting. But first answer the last question.

Q: Such as the production capacity of the pharmaceutical companies that are developing the vaccines, and the previous commitments that the supplier governments have acquired with other governments, which also press for it to reach their citizens first.

References

The journalistic interview: genre or tool? Taken from dialnet.unirioja.es.
How to Conduct a Journalistic Interview. Taken from scholastic.com.