Compelling interview questions are fairly easy to master. They should be open-ended, meaning avoid questions that address “yes/no” answers — those will stop the conversation from flowing.
When you interview sources for stories, it’s good to come with a list of questions and use those to guide the conversation. Do some research before you begin. To write compelling questions, think of what people need to know about the issue you’re covering. What questions might they ask?
For example, if you were writing a story about the Oakland University Counseling Center hiring additional therapists with money from a Dean of Students Office grant to address a semesterlong waitlist and wanted to talk to the dean of students, some questions might be more informational, but others should dig into the dean’s motives for hiring the counselors.
Here are example questions you could ask if this were your story:
- What prompted the Dean of Students office to fund the grant?
- How many students will benefit from the Counseling Center hiring new therapists?
- When can students expect the new therapists to be available? How will hiring them address the current waitlist?
- Why should students be interested in utilizing campus services like the Counseling Center?
- What other plans does the Dean of Students office have in regard to the Counseling Center, if any? Do you also plan to collaborate with other student services?
These are questions that could be asked to guide the conversation. The questions address the reason for the grant, how many students will benefit from it, and why students should use the resource, three things audience members would very likely want to know. A good note to keep in mind is if your source covers one of your questions before you ask it, avoid asking it yourself — you already received the answer.
Remember: To save your completed answers as a .hp5 file or copy them to your clipboard, click the “reuse” button at the bottom of each exercise.
The next section of the AP Style resources is Identifying Good Source Material.