The Information-Gathering Interview
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Culture and You
Have you ever imagined interviewing a particular celebrity, political leader, or historical figure? If you were given such an opportunity, what would your goals be for the interview? What kind of questions would you ask?
In the film Juno, sixteen-year-old Juno MacGuff sits in the expensively furnished living room of Mark and Vanessa Loring, a couple interested in adopting Juno’s unborn child. Vanessa and her adoption lawyer pepper Juno with questions like “How far along are you?” and “You really think you’re going to go ahead with this?” They’re trying to obtain information from Juno by collecting attitudes, opinions, facts, data, and experiences through an information-gathering interview. We take part in, or are exposed to, the results of such interviews every day; perhaps you’ve compiled a survey about experiences with campus parking, or maybe you’ve initiated information gathering when you asked your communication professor about career possibilities. In all these instances, the information-gathering interview serves to transfer knowledge from one party to the other.