Interviews: Everyday Concerns

With the free-lists done (I'll post about the results next time--I'm still working on them), I'm about to start interviewing people. I usually prefer to go with the semi-structured interview. I have a list of questions I want answers to. These questions are usually open-ended and invite additional comment from the person being interviewed. If the person says something interesting, something that might be important to my understanding a specific subject, then I scrap the list and go with the new information. So the list looks like a script, but it isn't really. Having the list helps me to have a productive interview even when the interviewee isn't being too talkative, and it helps me get back on subject quickly if the tangential line of questioning ends up being unfruitful.

This is the basic list of questions I have for people about their everyday needs, wants, and interests.

Common Needs, Wants, and Goals

I want to understand what kind of things are important to you in your everyday life, and I want to understand how you go about getting, or at least pursuing, those things.

1. What are your needs?
-What kinds of things do you, personally, feel you need to maintain a minimum standard of living?
-Do you feel like the needs of other people around you are the same?
-Do you feel like all of your needs are met?
-In regard to your needs, do you feel that you are better or worse off than you used to be?
-How did things used to be?
-Do you feel that other people around you are in the same position?
-If there was something you absolutely needed, and you personally had no way of getting it, is there anyone you could turn to in order to get it?
-Does anyone ever turn to you to get something they need?

2. What are your wants?
-Are there any things (within reason) that you would really just like to have that you do not currently have?
-Why do you think you do not have these things currently?
-Do you think it is possible that you will ever have these things?
-When you look at the people around you, do you think they have more or less unfulfilled wants than you do?
-What wants do you think other people have that you don’t?
-How could you go about getting the things that you want?

3. What do you worry about on a regular basis?
-If you had to list the top five things that you worry about, what would they be?
-Why do you worry about these things the most?
-How often do you worry about them?
-What would have to happen for you to stop worrying about them?
-Do you think other people worry about the same things, or are these things unique to you?
-What do you think most people worry about?
-What might other people worry about that you don’t?

4. What are your goals?
-If you could change one thing about your life, what would it be?
-What would have to happen for you to be able to make this change?
-What do you think your life will be like in five years?
-What about ten years from now?
-What about 20 years from now?
-Do you think other people around you have the same kinds of goals?
-What goals might they have that you don’t?

5. What are your interests?
-What are the most important things in your life?
-What would you fight the hardest to protect?
-Do you ever feel like these important things are threatened?