How to Conduct a Group Interview

Interviews are mostly done with individuals, but in some cases, you have to interview multiple people simultaneously. There are some essential steps you need to follow as it is quite a difficult task to conduct a group interview compared to an interview with just one person. Below are some tips that will help you to achieve this goal:

• Getting to know the people that you are going to interview is the first step before the interview. Those people are likely part of the same industry or even have the same or related occupations. So, when you prepare your questions beforehand, make sure that your questions are consistent with each other and fairly divided between individuals.
• Avoid asking provocative questions and do not ask them anything that can put them against each other. Make sure your questions are based on reliable sources.
• Make sure they do not speak at the same time as it causes problems with focusing. It can also lead to the loss of valuable contributions if they interrupt each other. You should ask them to answer the questions one by one.
• Listen carefully to the subjects and take notes if necessary. There is a chance that you can give the same question to the same person twice because you have multiple people in front of you.  Taking notes prevents this kind of problem. You can use either a traditional paper notebook or any electronic device that has your questions divided between the subjects beforehand.   
• Recording the interview – Different types of video or voice recording devices can be used to get the interview recorded. Make sure the recording device is functioning correctly and is fully charged. You will use the recorded file during the transcription process, so the recorder should be located in an appropriate place that will let you record speeches without any intervention, and the voices will be clean.
• Transcribing the interview – After the interview, you need to review the recorded file and create an interview transcript. It can be done manually, but it costs you too much time and energy. Alternatively, you can use automatic transcription software that works with audio to text principle. It can do the complete transcription in a matter of minutes. This software uses speech recognition technology, which can distinguish between the speakers. You can easily quote any speaker that was part of the interview. But as mentioned above, to get the best accuracy out of the software, make sure that people do not interrupt each other or talk at the same time.  It guarantees the quality of the transcript.