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A General Interview Guide, Edward D. Ives

Northeast Folklore Monographs

What follows is in no sense exhaustive or complete. I started from O'Sullivan's Handbook of Irish Folklore (that's where the basic structure comes from), and then I adapted it to the scene here in the Northeast by adding some questions and changing others. For any one of the aspects covered here, you can get more suggestions by looking al O'Sullivan's work.

I don't recommend trying to work straight through this guide with an informant. Nor do I particularly recommend interviewing with "guide in hand," and I'm dead against it for the first interview. Read the Guide through a few times …