Narrative Gerontology in Research and Practice by de Medeiros Kate;

Author:de Medeiros, Kate;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer Publishing Company, Incorporated

Probing for Information

A key feature of oral interviewing is the opportunity to probe for more information. Probing, or asking for more details, in response to what a responder is saying can help to clarify points as well as to obtain overall richer detail. Although the interview in Appendix I does not feature a lot of probing, there is an example in line 734 in which the interviewer asks Joe if he ever returned to his thesis. There are other places in the interview where the interviewer could have asked for more details, such as a description of the thesis. Although the thesis is the topic of the narrative, it remains very abstract throughout.

Common probe responses include questions such as, “Can you tell me more about X?” Often, a responder will bring up other people in an interview whose relationship to the responder or whose role in the story may be unclear. A typical probing question would be something like, “You mentioned X. Can you tell me how he fits into your story?” or “Can you tell me a story about X’s relationship to you?” Such questions will encourage the responder to provide more details or to link details in a more understandable way.

People new to interviewing often feel uncomfortable asking probing or clarifying questions, especially if the questions involve something potentially sensitive, like a death. However, responders often appreciate being asked to provide more details because they would rather have their story fully understood than partially understood. Asking a probing question like, “How did X die?” is not necessarily inappropriate. If responders don’t want to answer a question, they will usually say so (e.g., “I don’t want to talk about that”).

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