Why is research so important to a journalist?
Research is important to a journalist as it's crucial to be a reliable source otherwise people will not consume your media as you're not trusted. Expanding on that, it's important for a journalist to know what they're talking about in order to be reliable which is why research is so important as it may be a subject you as a journalist show no interest in.
Can you define primary and secondary, qualitative and quantitative research?
Primary research can be defined as information gathered first hand and directly from the sources. Whereas, secondary research can be defined as information gathered second hand from other peoples research. A journalist may use primary research when conducting an interview and may use secondary research when putting together questions for said interview which may involve quotes. Qualitative research can be defined as words which are often more focused on experiences. Whereas, quantitative research can be defined as statistics and numbers. A journalist may use qualitative research when interviewing a witness to be reliable and quantitative research may be used when words needs to be backed up to show you are a reliable source.
Can you discuss each of the seven principles for a good interview?
Do your research, know your end goal, build rapport, ask open questions, listen, be reactive and read the room are the seven principles of a good interview. Why? Research is important as you need to be knowledgeable on the interviewee in order to make an informative interview for people to watch, read or listen. Knowing your end goal is important as it allows you to craft questions in order to get a specific answer or reaction. Building rapport is key to make the interviewee feel at ease which makes them highly more likely to talk on and give detailed answers. Asking open questions enables the interviewee to talk in detail on the subject and lead onto possible followup questions compared to a closed question which would be a short and snappy answer. Listening is a vital part of being a journalist as without it you would have nothing to work with. It is important to let the interviewee say what they need to say, especially if it leads onto a topic you're able to follow up on or something you didn't think about asking. being reactive allows the interviewer to cover all possible scopes and also pick up on information that hasn't been released yet. Last but not least, reading the room is important as if you say the wrong thing at the wrong time the interviewee is likely to close off and not give the detailed answers you were after.
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