Peer Interview and Vox Pop
Ask the participants to reflect individually on a question.
Then ask them to get into pairs, with a person of their choice. This could be a person with whom they feel particularly comfortable. Ask them to do a cross interview with recording material. Check that all the participants know how to use it. Then remind them about the interviews and invite them to sit down in a place where they feel comfortable.
Listening to the audio files:
Person A interviews B for 5 min, then the roles are reversed and B interviews A.
Once the recordings are finished, come back into a large group circle. Place a speaker in the middle of the circle and listen to a few cross interviews on a voluntary basis. After each interview, do a quick review:
How did you feel during the interview?
How does it feel to hear your voice?
Listening to the interviews sometimes makes the participants feel uncomfortable, but they mostly laugh. Conducting the interviews in pairs allows some of the participants to open up more, to have fun and to enjoy listening to themselves.
Vox pop
Vox pop usually takes place in the following way: a journalist approaches a person in the street and asks her/him/them a question about the chosen topic. The questions are asked according to what the journalist is looking for: a short answer, such as “yes” or “no”, or a more developed one. Like other forms of interviews, the questions can be adapted to the previous answers and to the profile of the interviewee.
Warning : participants must be prepared on how to approach strangers. They also need to be prepared for rejection in case some of the people they want to interview are not willing to answer the questions.
Be careful with intimate questions that might incriminate the subjects. Also, if your questions are too intimate, you won’t get any answers. Imagine how you would react if a random person approaches you on the street and asks you overly private questions.
When interacting with others don’t forget to present yourself and the project so people can be more curious and open to participate.