Interview Analysis

Interview a person who has expertise about a topic
you are interested in. Please note that you should be conducting the actual interview; you
should not be summarizing an interview conducted by someone else.
Part #1: Choose a Research Topic and an Interviewee
You do not need to submit this portion in writing, but you do need to accomplish this in
preparation for your research assignment.
In preparation for your research proposal letter in the next topic, you will need to choose a
topic for your proposal. This research proposal letter will be directed to an audience who can
create change (Congressperson, business administrator, or other similar audience.) In the
proposal, you need to suggest a change or a solution to a current problem. Examples of
strong proposal topics would be things like funding ideas for an animal shelter, starting a
recycling program in a community, suggesting a better plan for public transport, or another
idea that interests you. You will be proposing solutions for these issues. Choose a topic that
you are passionate about and for which you will be able to develop at least one solution.
While this information should be enough for you to choose a topic, please consult the
assignment sheet within Topic 7 if you have more questions about this assignment.
Once you choose a topic, it’s time to choose a credible expert to interview on that subject. In
other words, you should avoid choosing an interviewee who is a close friend or family
member unless that person truly is an expert in the field. This credible expert should have
10+ years of experience in his or her discipline. Choose an interviewee who not only could
offer some specific details about the problem but one who may also be able to offer
suggestions of a plausible solution. Use the information contained in the lesson presentation
to secure and conduct a successful interview.
Part #2: Summarize and Synthesize Your Interview
When you summarize and synthesize, you take the smaller pieces (the sections of the
interview) and develop them into one cohesive piece. Doing this exercise will help you
prepare for the research proposal letter, where you will need to incorporate at least a few
ideas from the interview.
To successfully summarize and synthesize, you might find it helpful to follow this sequence
for your essay:
Provide Background Information:
In your introductory paragraph, introduce your audience to your interviewee. What is his/her
name? What is his/her experience? If relevant, where is the interviewee employed?
Summarize the Interview:
While you want to avoid the all-too-predictable question and answer format, you should
provide information about what you learned from the interview. Take a look at your original
questions, group them into categories, and use those categories to build your body
paragraph(s). Also, you may note the interviewee’s reactions in your summary as well. Was
the interviewee nervous about answering a question? Did he/she seem knowledgeable in the
subject matter? Make this summary work for you by including whatever details and
responses you feel are important and will help you when you write the research proposal.
Synthesize the Interview:
In the conclusion, synthesize the interview. To synthesize just means you should consider all of
the information you gathered from this interview and draw conclusions. What did you learn from
the interview? How did the interviewee and/or the interview help you gain a deeper
understanding of your topic? Other findings?
No source citations are required for this assignment, but please review the rubric to get a
better idea of you you’ll be assessed.
Preferred language style  Simple (Easy vocabulary, simple grammar constructions)