{"id":4660,"date":"2023-02-09T16:36:05","date_gmt":"2023-02-09T16:36:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nhd.org\/?post_type=resource&p=4660"},"modified":"2023-02-10T19:24:43","modified_gmt":"2023-02-10T19:24:43","slug":"guidelines-for-conducting-oral-history-interviews","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/nhd.org\/en\/resources\/guidelines-for-conducting-oral-history-interviews\/","title":{"rendered":"Guidelines for Conducting Oral History Interviews"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is an Oral History Interview?:<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n

An oral history interview is a conversation, conducted either virtually or in person, between a researcher and a person they have selected for their knowledge of a topic. The interviewee might have first-hand knowledge of a topic because they lived through, witnessed, or reported on an event. For example, a researcher interested in food rationing that occurred in World War II might interview someone whose family purchased food with rationing coupons at that time. This is a primary source interview, often called an \u201coral history\u201d or \u201cfirst-person narrative.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

Sometimes the interviewee is someone with significant knowledge about a topic but who did not experience it first-hand, such as a historian of World War II with expertise about food rationing. This would be a secondary source interview. <\/p>\n\n

Historians do NOT conduct secondary source interviews.<\/em><\/strong> When researching for and creating your NHD project, you are a historian. Therefore, you should NOT<\/em><\/strong> conduct any secondary interviews.<\/p>\n\n

Why are primary source interviews better than secondary source interviews?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n

The central piece of a National History Day\u00ae project is your<\/em><\/strong> analysis. While scholars (or other secondary source authors) provide essential information, what they would tell you in an interview would almost certainly be available in their written work\u2014both factual and interpretative. Further, your goal is not to analyze scholars\u2019 perspectives. Your goal is to analyze the experiences and perspectives of those who experienced the event first-hand. It is those perspectives and stories that interviews are intended to provide.<\/p>\n\n

To Interview or Not to Interview:<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n

We\u2019ve already established that you should NOT<\/em><\/strong> conduct secondary source interviews. Interviews are NOT <\/em><\/strong>required for an NHD project nor will they necessarily strengthen it! In fact, including interviews (especially secondary source ones) that provide information that you could access elsewhere can decrease<\/em><\/strong> <\/em>a project\u2019s quality by making it look like you did not read widely enough to find the information in existing scholarship. <\/p>\n\n

For more information on primary versus secondary source interviews, watch this video:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

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