English Language Arts · 12th Grade · The Power of the Spoken Word · Weeks 19-27

Conducting an Ethnographic Interview

Students practice conducting interviews to gather qualitative data and understand diverse perspectives.

• Common Core State Standards
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.1
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.7

About This Topic

Ethnographic interviewing is a qualitative research method rooted in anthropology that asks participants to share their lived experiences in their own words. In US high school ELA, this skill bridges writing and speaking standards while introducing students to the research practices used in college courses across disciplines, from sociology to journalism. Students learn to move beyond yes/no questions toward open-ended prompts that invite storytelling and reflection.

The ethical dimensions of this work are significant and worth taking seriously. Students must grapple with informed consent, confidentiality, representation, and the power dynamics inherent in any interviewer-subject relationship. These considerations appear in CCSS writing and research standards and connect students to real academic and professional contexts.

Active learning approaches are especially productive here because students need repeated practice with interview techniques before they feel confident using them. Peer role-plays, analysis of published oral history transcripts, and structured reflection after practice runs give students the low-stakes repetitions they need to internalize the skills.

Key Questions

1. Design interview questions that elicit rich, descriptive responses.
2. Analyze the ethical considerations involved in conducting and reporting interviews.
3. Evaluate the challenges and benefits of ethnographic research for understanding cultural phenomena.

Learning Objectives

• Design interview questions that elicit detailed, descriptive responses from interviewees.
• Analyze the ethical implications of informed consent, confidentiality, and representation in ethnographic interviews.
• Evaluate the strengths and limitations of ethnographic research for understanding cultural phenomena.
• Synthesize interview data to identify patterns and themes related to diverse perspectives.

Before You Start

Developing Effective Questions

Why: Students need foundational skills in question formulation to design prompts that elicit detailed responses.

Active Listening Skills

Why: Effective interviewing relies on attentive listening, which students should have practiced in previous speaking and listening units.

Key Vocabulary

Ethnography	A qualitative research method focused on describing and interpreting the culture of a group or community through direct observation and interviews.
Qualitative Data	Descriptive information, often in the form of words, narratives, or observations, gathered to understand experiences, perspectives, and meanings.
Open-ended Questions	Interview questions designed to encourage detailed responses, avoiding simple 'yes' or 'no' answers and prompting elaboration.
Informed Consent	The ethical principle requiring that participants understand the nature of the research, its potential risks and benefits, and voluntarily agree to participate.
Confidentiality	The practice of protecting an interviewee's identity and personal information, ensuring that their responses are not attributed to them publicly.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

Good interviewers stick to their planned questions.

What to Teach Instead

The most valuable interview moments often come from following unexpected threads the participant introduces. Planning questions is preparation, not a script. Active role-play practice helps students feel confident departing from their list when a more productive direction emerges.

Common Misconception

Longer answers mean better data.

What to Teach Instead

Quality matters more than length. A focused, specific anecdote can be more useful than a rambling response. Students learn to recognize depth versus detail through analyzing transcripts together in class.

Common Misconception

Transcription is just typing what you hear.

What to Teach Instead

Transcription involves decisions about how to represent pauses, emphasis, and nonverbal cues. These choices shape how the reader receives the data, making transcription an interpretive act that warrants discussion and deliberate practice.

Active Learning Ideas

Think-Pair-Share: Question Audit

Partners swap their draft interview question sets and mark any questions that lead to yes/no answers. They revise together to make questions more open-ended, then share one before/after example with the class.

20 min·Pairs

Role Play: Interview Practice Run

Students conduct a 10-minute mock interview on a low-stakes topic such as a hobby or childhood memory. The interviewer focuses on active follow-up questions. A third student observes and tracks how often the interviewer redirects versus lets the interviewee lead.

25 min·Small Groups

Gallery Walk: Ethical Scenarios

Post 5-6 printed cards around the room, each describing an ethical dilemma that could arise in ethnographic research. Groups rotate and annotate each card with how they would respond, then the class debriefs the most contested scenarios together.

30 min·Small Groups

Socratic Seminar: Whose Story Is It?

After reading excerpts from published oral histories, students discuss who benefits from the research and what obligations the researcher has to the community being studied. Students prepare two discussion points in advance.

40 min·Whole Class

Real-World Connections

• Journalists use ethnographic interviewing techniques to conduct in-depth profiles of individuals and communities, such as NPR's 'This American Life' which often features personal narratives.
• Market researchers and UX designers conduct interviews to understand consumer behavior and user experiences, informing the development of products and services like the latest smartphone app.
• Sociologists and anthropologists conduct ethnographic fieldwork in diverse settings, from urban neighborhoods to remote villages, to study social structures and cultural practices.

Assessment Ideas

Peer Assessment

Students pair up and conduct a 5-minute practice interview using pre-designed questions. After the interview, the interviewer provides specific feedback to their partner on the clarity of their questions and their active listening skills, using a rubric.

Discussion Prompt

Pose the following to the class: 'Imagine you interviewed someone about a deeply personal experience. What are two specific steps you would take to ensure their confidentiality and why are these steps important?'

Quick Check

Provide students with a short transcript excerpt from an ethnographic interview. Ask them to identify two examples of open-ended questions and one potential ethical consideration the interviewer might need to address.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is ethnographic interviewing in high school ELA?

Ethnographic interviewing is a qualitative research method where students gather firsthand accounts by asking open-ended questions about people's experiences and perspectives. In 12th grade ELA, it connects research writing standards with oral communication skills, preparing students for college-level inquiry across fields like sociology, journalism, and cultural studies.

How do students handle informed consent in a high school interview project?

Students explain the project's purpose to their participant, clarify that participation is voluntary, and confirm the participant understands how their responses will be used. Teachers often provide a simple consent form students adapt. This mirrors real research ethics and gives students experience with professional norms before college.

What active learning strategies work best for teaching ethnographic interview skills?

Practice is the core strategy. Students benefit from repeated low-stakes mock interviews, transcript analysis, and peer observation with a structured feedback form. Role-playing both interviewer and interviewee positions builds empathy and technique simultaneously, and group debrief after practice runs surfaces patterns students would not notice alone.

How is ethnographic interviewing different from a journalism interview?

Journalism interviews tend to focus on specific facts or events for a public audience. Ethnographic interviews prioritize the participant's subjective experience and cultural context, often using follow-up prompts to invite elaboration. The goal is understanding the person's world, not just gathering information for a story.