The amount of relevant data you can get from your interview depends on well-planned interview questions. I've listed some examples below. The first set of questions could be applied to any community. The second set demonstrates how the interview should be tailored to your specific community. You can draw from both lists to create your own interview. You'll also want to look back at the readings thus far (Swales, Gee, Johns, Wardle) and pinpoint a few concepts/issues you want to focus on (newcomer initiation/authority/conventionalism/ anticonventionalism/general-specific/cost of affiliation/secondary/primary discourse, etc.), then draft questions which can explore these issues. Remember, it's best to start with more questions than you need. You can always pare down your list and you don't have to use all the data you gather. Finally, consider the rhetorical situation. Who is your audience? What type of language will they best understand?
Things to remember when drafting interview questions:
- Some can be general but you should tailor a certain number of questions to your community.
- Questions should examine issues and concepts from the textbook readings.
- Come up with more than you think you'll need, then pare down to the best/most important.
- Consider the rhetorical situation: who is your audience? what is your purpose (what do you hope to gain?
Generic questions
How long have you been here?
Why are you involved
What do X, Y, and Z words mean?
How did you learn to write A, B, C?
How do you communicate with other people on your team?
What kinds of texts do you write and read here? memos/emails/notes?
What distinguishes these texts from writing you do outside this community?
Do you consider yourself a full member of this community?
Who has authority here and how is it displayed?
How often do you write?
What kinds of texts do you write? Informal or Formal?
How difficult is it to publish in your field? Who can get published?
More specific questions tailored to a specific discourse community: Macau Sports Dance Association (source: http://yuehailing.blogspot.com/2008/10/interview-questions-to-analyze.html)
1. Do you have shared goals in your community? What is it? How do you know and when did you realize it?
2. Except for the regular training and competition, are there any other forms of communication, like parties, meetings, performance? What are the purposes for these communications?
3. Does everyone attend regular training? How often does the regular training? Is there any minimum requirement for regular training?
4. Do all members have to compete? What are the requirements for competition?
5. How do you communicate with your partner(s) during training? Is there any difference between the language you use during training and after training?
6. Are there any newsletters, websites or other mechanisms of communication for all members of your community to read or understand? Are they often updated?
7. How are new members admitted to your community? What is the requirement for admission?
8. How do new members know that you are experienced(if they could know)?
9. How do you become interested in ballroom dance?
10. How did you connect of this group in the first place?
11. How many members are there?
Class Activity: Draft questions individually for 20 minutes. Use the above models for inspiration and look back to the articles in the book. Switch with peers and have them edit for clarity, and language use. What kinds of responses do the questions prompt? We want more than Yes/no answers in most cases so make sure these questions are open-ended and invite the interviewee to respond at length.
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