In this section, you will find different interview-based project types, including some of which are currently taking place as class assignments at Dawson.
Written interviews
1. Profile
A profile is typically a portrait of a person. It can also focus on a group, community or organization, or even a place, but there should still be a person at the heart of the profile. It is told in narrative form and involves quotes, examples and details gathered from researching and interviewing your subject. A profile tends to be informative but it can also explore an idea.
Examples:
2, Feature article
Unlike a hard news article, a feature article is typically a human-interest story about a event, person or issue that readers would find relevant to their lives. It often includes interviews with key figures in that story.
Examples:
3. Question and Answer
Unlike a profile, a Question and Answer interview transcribes the actual questions and answers that were asked in the interview. It is often edited slightly for clarity and concision. However, a Q&A interview may open with an introduction that is similar to a profile—that introduces the interviewee, summarizes their story and describes the central themes of their lives and work.
Examples:
4. Panel discussion
A panel discussion is similar in structure to a Q&A interview but instead of one person asking a question and the other person answering, an entire panel is asking each other questions and responding to them. In other words, everyone is the interviewer and everyone is the interviewee. This kind of interview is designed to elicit the points of view of a group of individuals on a particular topic or event. Typically a Google Doc or an email thread is used to create this type of interview.
Example:
Audio-video interviews
1. One-on-one video interview
Similar to a written profile, this kind of video interview is typically a portrait of a person.
Example:
2. Multiple points of view video interview
This kind of interview presents a range of opinions or perspectives on a topic, issue or event. If the purpose is to gather a cross-section of points of view, the interviews may be short, focused and limited to one or two specific questions that are asked of every person featured in the video. If the purpose is to speak to various experts on a topic, the interviews may be longer and more open-ended, usually with a thematic link or common point between the interviews.
Examples:
Student video interview project interviewing Dawson students about mental health (Link to Joel’s student’s mental health video project.)
3. Podcast interview
Podcast interviews can have many different purposes–profiling an individual, discussing an issue, explaining a concept, telling a story, to name just a few–and sometimes several purposes at once. They can also take many different forms, from long-form interviews to highly-edited interviews (e.g. with voice overs) to documentary/narrative style podcasts and others.
Examples:
Interviews as research for a separate project
The purpose of some interviews is not to present the interview itself but to use the interview as research for a separate project.
Example:
Description of assignment from Tim Miller’s Contemporary Issues Set 1: Designing Solutions for a Better World 365-BWP-DW course
“Students form small groups. One member from each team acts as a customer. The rest of the group act as a ‘consulting firm’. The teacher plays the CEO of Indigo. The teacher is looking to hire one group for a 1 billion dollar contract, based on the solutions they pitch to increase sales in Indigo stores. Students have to design these solutions based on their interview with the customer. The teacher typically selects the group that not only comes up with creative ideas but that conducts the most effective interview. A major emphasis of the interview is on trying to get to get to a deeper level of the customer and look for key insights about who they are.”
