Description of Unit

This unit introduces students to fundamental skills used in the most common type of interview -- the probing interview.  This type of interview situation is encountered daily by individuals in numerous professions including news reporters, law enforcement officers, and even auto mechanics.  This unit teaches students to accomplish the following:

1) determine the purpose and conduct research to plan the interview
2) select the interviewee
3) select the interviewer
4) conduct the interview
5) prepare the report
6) respond to questions in a probing interview.

Relevant Chapters

Chapter 5: The Probing Interview

Potential Activities

• Have students conduct interviews with professionals in the community about the role of interviewing in their profession.  These interviews should identify common purposes of interviews for different professions, skills necessary for effective interviewing, and "war stories" from professionals who interview others as part of their job.  When assigning this activity, you should stress that selection interviews are only one type of commonly encountered interview situation, because many students will tend to assume that this is their only option.

• Have students write a news story.  They should select a topic (e.g., national, state, or local current event), research the topic, select "experts" to interview, conduct the interview, and write a story/report.   The report should be 2 to 3 pages minimum.  Optionally, you can have students make oral reports about the interview.

• Have students individually, in groups, or as a class view and discuss a press conference (CNN and C-Span is a good source for this).  Have students analyze the "flow" of questions in the press conference and the skill of the respondent in answering questions.  It is effective to use one press conference from a professional media relations representative (e.g., the White House Press Secretary) and compare that to a press conference conducted by more of a "novice" (e.g., a local press conference).

• For more advanced communication majors, have them select a scholar in the field and interview that person about their research and then make a report to the class.  It is advisable to solicit permission from colleagues and generate a list from which students can select.

Daily Lesson Plan