Interview tips from Tim & Eric

Comedians Tim & Eric are well known for their irreverent approach to press interviews. The duo use them as another stage for their absurdist style of humour. Amongst the anarchic trolling of this interview clip their lies some timeless advice for research practitioners.

• Don’t waste your qualitative research time by asking quantitative questions.
• Quickly establish a rapport so that people’s time and input feels valued.
• Keep questions brief and to the point.
• Avoid closed questions to minimise one-word responses, use open-ended questions instead.
• Be polite and encouraging with your participants even if they appear impatient or terse at first. Blatant offensiveness is not acceptable though!
• If a participant gives you the opportunity to fix a challenging interview, don’t waste it! Take your time to reflect and turn it around with confidence.

Lastly, pray you never have to interview Tim & Eric.

“I don’t hate you. I just want you to do better.”