I've been working in media journalism for six years now. When covering breaking news, I interview 3-4 people daily. Later, when I transitioned to feature stories, I had to conduct in-depth conversations with interviewees 1-2 times per week. Their identities ranged from party officials, CEOs of large corporations, startup founders, to grandmothers at the market and children.

Possibly 2 people indoors （Photo／Interview with Dr. Hsu Lan-Fang）

How do you guide strangers you've never met before to reveal their true thoughts? This requires technique!

First, you must be genuinely sincere
Relationships between people are reciprocal—your sincerity will absolutely be felt by the other person!

True sincerity means you're genuinely willing to spend time understanding someone, and willing to do your homework before even meeting them.

Doing your homework is actually the harder part.

How do I do it?

  1. Extensively research the other person's social media
    I look at even very old university photos and award records; at a more advanced level, I study their growth trajectory, including how their writing style, clothing, and appearance have changed over the past 5 years, and further understand their mindset as they've grown.

  2. Note the other person's taboos
    Because everyone has places that shouldn't be touched, and even if you don't mean harm, simply bringing up the question might be disrespectful.

For example, I know an entrepreneur who had disagreements with a co-founder. When I first met him, I knew I couldn't bring up this topic. It wasn't until 2 years later, after building trust in our relationship, that I dared to ask and finally got an answer. This is what I call "genuine sincerity."

Step Two: Ask genuinely
Be genuinely sincere with the other person so they feel your sincerity, then ask with genuine curiosity—about things you truly don't know but need to understand.

Even if the question is simple and easily answerable within their expertise, it's wrong not to ask just because you don't know.

At this point, you can say: "I'm sorry, there are still some things I'm unclear about on this topic. I'm worried I might have misunderstood—could you help me confirm something?"

Most people will accept this.

Other opening phrases include:

"So what you mean is⋯" 👉 This confirms further and shows you're listening, but maybe the other person explained it too complexly at first.

"If⋯ what would you do?" 👉 If you want to guide them to explain how they'd handle something or their perspective on it, you can ask this way. When facing real events, people tend to be more cautious, but hypothetical scenarios they're less guarded about, even if the situation is the same.

"What do people in general think you are? Do you agree with that?" 👉 You might think they're a certain type of person, but "what you think" is too subjective, so using "what people think" or "some people say"—more objective phrasing—is better.

These phrasing approaches won't make people feel offended.

Step Three: Question techniques
Sometimes interviewees won't engage in dialogue with you; they just answer yes or no, right or wrong.

The main reason is either they don't want to elaborate, or they've become so used to something that they assume you think the same way, so they answer briefly.

☑️ In these cases, we can use the following questions to guide them:

  1. How so?
    With this phrase, the other person can easily express their thoughts. Sometimes they might think you truly don't know and wonder if you're foolish, but that's okay—as long as you know your purpose.

  2. Could you describe the situation at that time for me?
    Because it's really hard to continue the conversation when they just answer yes or no, you need to ask them to "describe it" so they can recall and paint a vivid picture that helps you understand better and avoid misinterpretation.

  3. So do you feel that⋯?
    After the other person describes something but you feel they haven't gotten to the main point, you can use this phrase to help them along.

No matter what you say after this, they'll continue to express their agreement or disagreement.

Step Four: Eye contact
To help strangers enter their own inner world and elaborate on things, you must focus intently on the other person, letting them know you're listening and making them feel safe.

Then, when they speak seriously, use "nodding" to make them feel safer knowing you agree with them, you understand them, you've entered their world. If the interviewee is crying, don't show pity—instead, affirm them and let them know you're empathizing. You become someone who stands beside them and cheers them on.

Eye contact plus nodding is an excellent way to build trust.

Hope this article helps you :)

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