INTERVIEWI NG BASICS Curiosity curiosity OPENENDED QUESTIONS RATHER

INTERVIEWI NG BASICS

Curiosity, curiosity!

OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS (RATHER THAN FACTS) • What was that like for you? • I’m curious about your experience of _____? • Can you tell me more about _____? • What concerns did/do you have? • Is there anything else you want to talk about?

ELICIT EXPERIENCES (NOT BELIEFS OR ABSTRACT IDEAS OR PHILOSOPHIES): • What are some key experiences that you have had that have influenced your attitudes or stance toward dying, death, and the afterlife? • If they are in their head and talking ideas: Can you give me an example (of when that idea came up. How that played out)? OR: Have you experienced something like that?

GIVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO EXPRESS 360 DEGREES (NOT JUST ONE SIDE OR THEIR EXPERIENCE) – GET POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES • What do you like best about our family’s traditions or customs around dying and death? What do you like least – or think does not always work well? • So far you have talked mostly about “X. ” Have there ever been times when you felt or wondered the opposite – “not-X”?

PRIORITIZE QUESTIONS Interviews work best as conversations, and you go with the flow. But then you need to know which questions you absolutely want to make sure that you get to them – and ASK them!

BEWARE OF UNINTENDED TRIGGERS • ‘Faith’ is not neutral – not all religions understand themselves as a ‘faith’ • What did you learn from your experience of your mother’s death? – not all people think it is appropriate to ‘learn’ from suffering or ‘gain’ from something or ‘turn it to good’