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Interviews

Element · All elements
Evidence · 2 claims (1 for, 1 mixed) · 4 studies (3 causal, 1 quant-synthesis), q3 · 2 of 4 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description

An interview places learners in direct contact with a source of knowledge — a domain expert, practitioner, community member, or peer — whom they question using a prepared protocol. The learner acts as an active inquirer rather than a recipient of pre-packaged content, and the resulting material (notes, transcripts, recordings) becomes an artifact for analysis, synthesis, or presentation.

Design Implications

Interviews make learning situated and purposeful: learners must activate prior knowledge to formulate questions, listen and adapt in real time, and reconcile answers with their existing understanding Interview tasks that require question generation promote deeper processing than answering supplied questions. [+M]. Their value depends on preparation — learners need background knowledge to ask substantive questions and to interpret answers critically — and on a follow-up structure that converts raw conversation into analyzed knowledge rather than leaving it as anecdote.

Context

Requirements

  • Sufficient prior knowledge for learners to ask meaningful questions and evaluate answers (Activation before the interview)
  • A prepared question protocol, with training on follow-up probing and active listening
  • Access to an appropriate interviewee whose expertise matches the learning goal
  • A synthesis or analysis activity afterward — the interview is input, not the endpoint (Application)

Constraints

  • Interviews with poorly prepared learners yield superficial Q&A exchanges; without background knowledge, learners cannot probe or detect weak answers [-M]
  • Unstructured "chat" formats drift from learning goals; the protocol and debrief carry the pedagogical weight [~M]
  • Interviewees may present anecdote, opinion, or error as fact; learners need guidance on source evaluation and triangulation with other evidence [-W]
  • Logistical barriers (scheduling, access, recording consent) make interviews costly relative to text or video sources; use when first-hand perspective is the point, not as a substitute for available material

Target Learners

  • Intermediate learners who have enough domain knowledge to formulate questions; complete novices benefit more from Demonstration or direct exposition first
  • Learners developing professional or research practices (journalism, qualitative methods, user research, oral history)
  • Adolescents and adults; younger learners need heavily scaffolded protocols and role rehearsal

Target Learning Goals

  • Inquiry and information-gathering skills: question design, probing, active listening
  • Perspective-taking and empathy: encountering lived experience and viewpoints different from one's own
  • Authentic disciplinary practice: learning how professionals in a field actually elicit and use testimony
  • Synthesis: integrating first-hand accounts with course material into an evidence-based product

Affordances

  • Ask Experts — interviews enact this principle directly: the expert is present and responsive, so learners can pursue their own lines of inquiry rather than receiving a fixed expert account
  • Authentic Audiences & Purposes — a real interviewee and a real deliverable (article, report, oral history) give the task genuine stakes beyond the grade
  • Building Empathy — structured listening to personal narratives is a core mechanism of perspective-taking interventions; interviews operationalize it with real interlocutors
  • Cognitive Apprenticeship — interviewing a practitioner exposes learners to how experts frame problems and narrate their own practice, a form of access to expert thinking that complements observation

Claims

  • Case Studies — interviews can supply primary material for cases; cases give interviews an analytical frame
  • Coaching — the interviewee functions as a one-shot coach; coaching extends that exchange over time
  • Check-In — brief structured questioning used formatively between peers, sharing the interview's question-and-listen mechanics
  • Application — the synthesis activity that converts interview material into learning

Patterns That Use This Element

Examples

  • Oral history projects (e.g., StoryCorps, https://storycorps.org) — students interview family or community members using StoryCorps' question guides, producing archived first-person accounts; widely used in K-12 history and ELA curricula
  • Qualitative research methods courses — learners design interview protocols, pilot them on peers, and code transcripts; the peer pilot interview is a standard rehearsal structure
  • User research in design education — students conduct contextual interviews with users before prototyping, making the interview the front end of a design cycle
  • News literacy units — students interview local sources and triangulate claims against documents, learning both interviewing craft and source evaluation
  • Have students interview study-abroad returnees to learn about living abroad first hand

Key Sources

  • Herrington, J., & Oliver, R. (2000). An instructional design framework for authentic learning environments. Educational Technology Research and Development, 48(3), 23–48. doi:10.1007/BF02319856
  • Collins, A., & Kapur, M. (2014). Cognitive apprenticeship. In R. K. Sawyer (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences (2nd ed., pp. 109–127). Cambridge University Press.
  • Rubin, H. J., & Rubin, I. S. (2012). Qualitative Interviewing: The Art of Hearing Data (3rd ed.). SAGE.
  • Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511815355
Page metadata
Field Value
type element
id interviews
title Interviews
description An interview is a structured conversation in which learners pose questions to an expert, practitioner, community member, or peer to gather first-hand knowledge, perspectives, or data.
status review
canonical True
generated by claude/unspecified on 2026-08-29
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