Please note that the FANHS-NoVA website will move to a new site by May 2010:
Related blogsite:
Draft Oral History Interview Questions for
Fairfax County Asian American Historical Project:
(Questions listed below are for illustrative purposes only -- and could be tailored to the interviewee's situation and particular Fairfax County issues to be explored.)
Interviewer: Date of Interview:
Interviewee: Place of Interview:
Life in Fairfax County, Virginia:
1. What is your name and where do you live?
2. Are you a first/second/third/fourth generation Asian American?
Has your family experienced generation gap issues among
parents/grandparents and children about American life,
particularly in Fairfax County.
(Generation Gap questions for younger Asian Americans listed below.)
3. When and Why did you move to Fairfax County?
4. What kind of support did you receive when you moved to Fairfax County? Did you feel welcomed by your neighbors? Did you experience any unwelcome treatment?
5. Do you think more should be done for new residents to be part of the community in Fairfax County? Are you involved with community organizations in Fairfax County? (for example, PTA, homeowners, service, business organizations)
6. What is your fondest memory of your life in Fairfax County?
7. What is life today in Fairfax County compared to when you first arrived? What do you think are the major changes that you experienced while living in Fairfax County?
8. How have changes in Fairfax County affected your life?
9. What do you think have been your successes in your life in Fairfax County?
10. Were you employed while you lived in Fairfax County? Did you work in Fairfax County?
11. How did you enjoy working as a Fairfax County resident? What was the hardest thing about your job? What was most enjoyable about your job? What were major issues or crises that you faced and how did you resolve them? Did your work affect developments in Fairfax County?
12. How long do you expect to live in Fairfax County?
Asian American Community in Fairfax County:
12. How important was the Asian American community in helping you get established in Fairfax County? How important is the Asian American community in your current life?
13. How would you describe the Asian American community in Fairfax County? How have Asian Americans affected life in Fairfax County? What have been the most important contributions of Asian Americans to Fairfax County?
14. Does your family celebrate Asian holidays? What other Asian American traditions are observed by your family?
Your Family Life:
15. Tell me about your family in Fairfax County. Are you married? Do you have children or grandchildren -- and how many of them are in Fairfax County?
16. When you first moved to Fairfax County, how did it compare to your former place of residence?
17. When and where were you born? Who were your parents and what did they do?
18. What do you remember most about growing up in the community of your birth and early years (whether in the US or overseas)?
19. If you were born outside the US, what did you do before leaving for the US -- and eventually to Fairfax County?
20. For those born outside the US, what are some of your best memories of life in the land of your birth (e.g., the Philippines) -- and how did those memories help you in your life in Fairfax County? Have you traveled back to your country of birth since you settled in Fairfax County? When you retire, do you want to go back to live in your country of birth?
Your Legacy:
21. How would you like to be remembered?
Your Suggestions:
22. What do you think we should focus on when we describe your life as an Asian American in Fairfax County? Whom else should we interview about the lives of Fairfax County Asian Americans -- and what themes should we cover in the project?
Other question options for the Fairfax County Asian American History Project by Mary Lipsey
1. How or why did you or your parents/grandparents come to the United States?
2. Why did you choose Fairfax County for your home?
3. What ideas did you have about the United States before you came?
4. What were your first impressions of living in the United States?
5. Did you experience any hardships or discrimination that you would like to share?
6. What were your life experiences like here in the United States?
Home life Education Occupations Church
7. Did the younger generation in your family have different experiences than the older generation?
8. What types of clubs, sports and organizations do you belong to?
9. How would describe the contributions of yourself or the Korean (Japanese, Filipino, etc) Americans as a whole, and particularly in their lives in Fairfax County?
10. What lessons have you learned?
11. What advice would you like to give to the younger generation?
Generation Gap questions developed by Vy Nguyen for younger Fairfax County Asian Americans:
1. Are you the first generation to be born here? Do you think there are differences between the way you were raised and the way your parents were?
2. Which school did/are you attend(ing)? And what was your experience?
3. What was it like growing up in Fairfax County?
4. Were there ever any instances you felt discriminated against? Inside and outside of school.
5. Did you ever feel different from your peers because of your Asian American upbringing?
6. What do you think is the biggest difference between you and your parents' generation?
7. Did your family follow a religion? Which? And in what ways did you observe it?
8. What are the values your parents emphasized the most?
9. Were there any sayings your parents always said to you?
10. What do you feel was your greatest accomplishment?
11. What activities have you ever been involved in? What are your hobbies?
12. Do you know how your parents came here? How?
13. Do you feel attached to your Asian heritage? How has life in Fairfax County fostered this if at all?
14. What do you want to be? Why? Did family largely influence this?
15. If you could say anything to your elders, what would you want to say to them?
Instructions for Oral History Interviews
Before you begin:
1. Create a comfortable setting.
2. Supply paper, pen, water, mints.
3. Have a visible clock. Arrange hand signals with person who is helping.
4. Do introductions.
5. Collect release forms, data sheet, loaned items.
6. Set the stage:
A. the purpose of the interview
B. how long the taped interview will be
C. when/if the participants will receive a copy of the interview
7. Explain that breaks are okay during taping.
8. Explain that second person may have additional questions.
9. Eliminate possible interruptions -- cell phones, etc.
10. Ask interviewee if he/she has questions.
The Interview-on tape
1. State your name and interviewee's name (ask interviewee to give his/her own name)
2. State time, date, and place of the interview
3. Begin by starting what you know about the interviewee
4. Ask questions slowly and wait for the answer. Do not rush the interviewee to answer for his/her thoughts might be lost.
5. Ask follow-up questions.
6. Ask for specific details: (what year, what were you feeling, what do you remember about?)
7. If necessary, guide the interviewee to get back on topic.
8. Ask the interviewee to share his/her favorite story or words of advice.
9. Ask for spelling of difficult names or places, etc.
Second person
1. Write down difficult spellings.
2. Record the length of the interview.
3. Provide the interviewer with a five minute warning, etc.
Kudos from Canada:
FCAAHP Interview Questions were selected as one of top six sites.
90927Note from Cora Foley: I was doing some internet surfing when I came across a neat item:
http://doodledaddle.blogspot.com/2009/08/top-6-sites-with-sample-oral-history.html
Sunday, August 16, 2009
A little while ago, I posted my Top 6 Online Guides for Folklife and Oral History Documentation. In preparing for a couple interviews I'm going to be doing, I was looking up some sample questions for basic oral history and folklore interviews, and so I thought I would post my top picks here for people who were looking for similar resources.
1. The Smithsonian Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide
http://www.folklife.si.edu/education_exhibits/resources/guide/introduction.aspx
This is sort of cheating, because I included it in my earlier post, but it still remains an excellent resource, complete with sample questions.
2. Fifty Questions for Family History Interviews
http://genealogy.about.com/cs/oralhistory/a/interview.htm
Subtitled "What to Ask the Relative" this is a good starting list for anyone doing research on family stories, genealogy, or family traditions.
3. Oral History Questions
http://www.youthsource.ab.ca/teacher_resources/oral_question.html
Also a good list for people doing family oral histories, this collection of questions was compiled specifically for youth researchers.
4. Sample Interview Questions For Veterans
http://www.loc.gov/vets/questions.html
Prepared by the Library of Congress for its Veterans History Project, this is a good list of questions for people doing interviews with members and former members of the armed forces during World War I, World War II, and the Korean, Vietnam, and Persian Gulf wars.
5. Tell Me Your Stories
http://www.tellmeyourstories.org/supporting/handouts.htm
Another great resource for student and youth researchers, it includes a list of sample questions in Word format, which you can download at:
http://www.tellmeyourstories.org/general/TMYSques.doc
6. Draft Oral History Interview Questions for Fairfax County Asian American Historical Project
http://fanhs-nova.org/71001InterviewQuestions.aspx
A list of questions for collecting stories from Asian Americans, which could be adapted to reflect other ethnic groups in different areas.
The author from Canda:
Dale Gilbert Jarvis is the Intangible Cultural Heritage Development Officer for the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, a storyteller, author and performer. Dale sits on the Board of Storytellers of Canada/Conteurs du Canada, is the founder of the St. John's Storytelling Circle, and serves as president of the St. John's Storytelling Festival, Inc.