Interview conducting and James Manut

This is the recording of my second interview. I spoke with James Manut, an Elder in the Sudanese community about his life in Sudan, his journey as a refugee and his role as an elder.

I think my interview conducting is OK, although there are some errors and common mistakes that I keep making. I feel as though I audibly agree too much, as if to show that I understand and encourage elaboration from the person that I am talking to. There's a lot of "yeps" and "okays" from me in the audio stream. I feel as though I need to show this encouragement to elaborate in a non audible way in future, or omit it completely.

Furthermore, I get tongue tied a couple of times. I feel as though this is not due to ill-planning, but rather my inexperience. After I conduct some more interviews I should learn how to be quicker with my wit and formulate questions without a period of "umms" and "ahhs". At one stage when I was asking about first impressions of Australia, I mixed myself up with a question about Australian Football. It sounds a bit funny when you listen to it and doesn't make much sense, but I feel that I will avoid being tongue tied by getting more experience.

I have been encouraged to leave a small pause between the end of someone's response and the beginning of my next question or my attempt to clarify. I feel as though out of habit from regular conversations I am not leaving this pause. At times I even cut-off Manut's speech to clarify or ask a new question. This is obviously a no-no and I need more experience to get better at that self control and awareness.

I have also been questioned about the tone of my speech. At times I may sound like I am a police officer who is interrogating, rather than a person that is in a warm, comfortable conversation. This comfortable conversation is what I am striving to achieve.

If you have any comments or criticisms, feel free to comment them in the comments box below, or send me a private message. I'm open to any suggestions that people may have.

The article on Sudanese Refugees in Australia will hopefully be available in 2 weeks time.