Oral History
Essay Preview: Oral History
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Kristin Sanchez
Final Exam
Oral history is the recorded views of people who were involved in historical events which provide for perspectives that show feelings, memories, and many other significant, usually hidden experiences. Interviewing is a method used to record a persons view on a historical event. This audio or video recording has become a different way to understand and learn about the past.
Preparing for an oral history interview will require a number of steps including background preparation, question formulation, interviewing techniques, etc. In the beginning of the semester, I knew of the importance to each step. By the end of the semester, I realized the level of effort needed to accomplish each step in the interview process. Every step was obvious from the start. How much time needed to spend on every step did not come clear to me until I finished the transcription. If I could do it all over again, I would have spent more time researching The Vietnam War and spent more time on creating at least fifty more questions that would provide for a story-oriented answer.
Steps to an interview have importance. Background preparation will provide for question formulation. For example, a medic on the field should have questions regarding a medic perspective whereas a soldier on the field should have questions regarding their combat experience. Questions formulated to recall early memories can also help in relaxing the interviewee and lead them into reminiscing. Interviewing techniques will add to the quality of the interview. Interview answers will be of better quality using techniques producing a good flow of answers. Not interrupting and a level of comfort are some ways to produce this flow and add quality to an interview. Transcribing and evaluating an interview will help knowing your project inside and out. Without it, an edit will be more difficult. Edits summarize or pinpoint a significant experience which is important for a reader. The reader can then sustain interest and view the interview in a creative way.
In choosing the most vital component of the interview process, I would choose the question formulation. Formulating quality questions in chronological order will result in a more organized and detailed historical resource. Finding the best questions will help in guiding the interviewee through their experience. Order prevents confusion and keeps the progression of memeries.
The way we phrase questions is important because it can influence more detailed memories, stories, opinions, etc. Too many yes or no questions will not add detail to an interview. It is best if the interviewer elicits the fullest response to every question. A “No” answer would not be as resourceful as an answer explaining how or why from the same topic. A question may be answered in more detail if presented as a command or prompt. A yes or no question, “Did you communicate with loved ones back home?” can be rephrased to “How did you communicate with loved ones back home?” The question, “Dont you think training was your worst experience?” may influence an answer. A better way to present this topic would be to ask, “What was your worst experience during your service?” Questions leading towards your opinion might affect a persons answer. Questions can also be combined in order to prevent redundant answers. For example, two questions, “What was the first weapon you fired?” and “Describe your experience firing a weapon for the first time.”, may be changed to just “Describe your experience first experience firing a weapon for the first time.” Rephrasing it this way will prevent information from being