Posterity Media Question List for Interviewing Married Couple

This is what I use as a starting point when preparing a Posterity Media interview with a married couple. I tend to concentrate the first half of these interviews on family/personal history (answered individually) and the second half on their life as a couple (answered together). I also keep things pretty generic on the official question list - then dig in to specifics a bit more during the actual interview. I rarely get to every question during the actual interview - and will often skip a few in each category to keep things moving (especially if they touched on that subject when answering a previous question). I think it's more important for the interview to stay a reasonable length and maintain a good energy throughout.

You're welcome to use this question set as a starting point for conducting your own interview! If you're planning to do this with your smartphone check out my 3 Tips for Recording Smartphone Interviews or the more detailed Guide to Recording Smartphone Interviews.

Family History (answered individually)

• Where were you born / where did you grow up?

• How did your family come to be there?

• (If siblings) Who are your siblings? What was your dynamic like growing up? Where do they live now / what do they do?

• Any other key people in your life when you were young?

• Can you describe the rest of your family tree? Your parents and grandparents - where they came from, what they did for a living?

Growing Up (answered individually)

• Any memorable routines growing up? (Nightly family dinner, going out as a family, summer camp, annual vacations, etc.)

• Were there any big technology moments in your house growing up? First TV? First car? First computer? Anything else?

• When did you first move out of home? Where was that to?

• Where did you go to school? To college? Beyond that?

• What was your first job?

Life Together (answered together)

• Can you tell me the story of how you met? Do you remember your first real date? Any other memorable moments during your courtship?

• What is the story of how you decided to get married?

• How did you decide to move to live where you lived?

• (If children) How did you decide to have children? How would you describe them?

• If someone were to ask you to describe your home, how would you describe it?

• Did you ever consider living anywhere else?

Life Today (answered together)

• What are the key pieces of your life these days?

• What is most important to you?

• What do you think the future holds?