2.4.2 Interviewing Informants

An important source of information about a culture is interviews with various people who grew up in that culture. Interviews can be uncomfortable for people, and it is important that researchers do all they can to help subjects feel at ease. Researchers will normally conduct an interview in a familiar space for the informant, such as the informant’s home. They will help the subject ease into the interview by participating in introductory and hosting protocols followed in that culture when a visitor comes to someone’s home. The researcher will start off the interview with the exchange of pleasant comments and will introduce themselves by explaining who they are, where they come from, and why they are doing this research. Then the interview may commence.

Interviews can be short or long, and there may be follow-up meetings and further interviews based on how knowledgeable the informant is. Many informants are chosen because they are deeply conscious of multiple aspects of their culture. This type of insider information is vitally important to an anthropological research project. In addition to interview questions, survey questions may also be asked during these meetings. The use of recording equipment, for both audio and video recordings, is common during interviews. However, such equipment may be considered intrusive by some, and their use is always at the discretion of the informant. Express permissions must always be obtained both to create a recording and to use a recording in future projects.

A White man shaking hands with a Maasai man in an open field. The White man wears modern Western clothing. The Maasai man wears a long patterned robe. Behind the Maasai man shaking hands stands another Maasai man in a bright red robe. All three men appear comfortable and friendly. Cattle are grazing behind them.
Figure 2.11 Ethnographic researchers engage with the cultures they are studying by spending time with their people. Here Josphat Mako, a Maasai man, greets Stuart Butler. Butler spent two months with Mako, walking between Maasai villages and visiting with residents to learn about both traditional customs and contemporary practices and challenges. (credit: “2015 06 24 Walking with the Maasai JPEG RESIZED 0025” by Make It Kenya Photo/Stuart Price/flickr, Public Domain)
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The content of this course has been taken from the free Anthropology textbook by Openstax