Pre-Show Activity: Developing an Interview Protocol

The first step in developing an Ethnodrama is to determine what topic you want to explore. In Making Gay History: Before Stonewall, the topic is experiences of LGBTQ+ people prior to the Stonewall uprising.

Once you’ve determined what topic you will study, you now need to figure out what you’re hoping to find out about that topic. Like all research projects, you must establish clear research questions. A good method for establishing clear research questions is to use the 5 Ws: who, what, when, where, and why.

For example, in preparing for a project on experiences of LGBTQ+ people prior to the Stonewall uprising, research questions might include:

- Who was engaged in the LGBTQ+ community prior to the Stonewall uprising?

- What factors contributed to the emergence of the LGBTQ+ community in the 20th century in the United States prior to 1969?

- When did these experiences take place?

- Where did these experiences take place?

- Why is it worthwhile to explore this topic?

Next you will prepare a set of questions that you will ask your interview participants in order to find answers to your research questions. We call this list an interview protocol. Here is a sample interview protocol:

1. Describe the circumstances surrounding your birth.
2. Describe early experiences you had with what we would now call the LGBTQ+ community.
3. What is your favorite thing about being part of the LGBTQ+ community?
4. Describe a moment in your life when you experienced or witnessed homophobia.
5. What is surprising to you about the LGBTQ+ community today?
6. What advice would you give to someone just discovering that they are part of the LGBTQ+ community?
7. What, if anything, are you looking forward to in the next decade?
8. Do you have anything else you’d like to say about any of the topics we’ve been discussing?
9. Do you have any questions for me?

The final step in this process is to identify interview participants. The interview participants are the people who you will interview in order to find out information about the topic and whose words will make up the data from which the script will be created. For Making Gay History, Eric Marcus interviewed folks who were involved in the LGBTQ+ community and their experiences in the early fight for LGBTQ+ civil rights. These interviews are featured on the podcast and can be accessed at the Making Gay History website.

Pro tip: Many people like to tell stories about themselves and their lives. That does not mean they want a story they tell you in private to be shared with other people. As such, it is vital that you obtain their written permission to use their words in the Ethnodrama that you will develop. We call this written permission consent – and that consent can be limited to just their words, or extended to include their name, image, voice recordings, or more so it is very important that you are honest with your interview participants about what you plan to use, how you plan to use it, and that they agree in writing to the terms of the agreement.

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