Researching People

“The point is that we must bed our subjects more often—that we should be more forward, direct, candid, and adventuresome in ways that show the flesh of the people behind all of the garments they wear in everyday social life.” I love this quote. It reminds me of something I saw written on a blog giving writing advice, “Your characters are like geodes; if you want to see what they're really made of, you must break them”. When one thinks about an interview taking place, the customs seems civilised and mildly sterile. I think the word interview has had a massive shift over the last few decades. When the Sex Pistols were interviewed by Bill Grundy on his television show in 1976, there was such a divide between the interviewer and the interviewee; Grundy showing clear contempt for the group and attempting to maintain a higher position of status. Fast forward to today and the likes of Graham Norton interview people in a way which puts everyone on equal footing. In a past reading on research, there were descriptions for different kinds of groups (interpersonal, small group, organizational, mass media) and how these groups would impact how people spoke. Erving Goffman understood the need to connect with people to properly understand them. By speaking to someone as a subject of study, ignoring the human parts of both them and yourself, the result will not be successful. Presumably for most people there has to be an element of trust and familiarity involved before 'going to bed' with someone. Goffman acknowledged this. 

 

Hermanowicz lists 25 tips on how to interview properly, the fifth of which is 'Sometimes remain quiet when your date it quiet'. This seems really key to me. I think under interview conditions its easy to feel the need to keep talking as this seems like a logical way to keep the interview flowing. By remaining silent, you almost remove the interview aspect and allow the conversation to flow as it would outside of those constraints.