If you adopted case study as your data gathering technique while presenting a proposal for your undergraduate project topic, you may need to practice some interview skills before you finally meet your interviewee. Doing a case study interview is a very tactful task to accomplish especially when you are dealing with a very sensitive case; if your interviewee is not making things easy for you, you may likely go home with nothing at all. But first;

What is case study?
Case study is method of data gathering mostly obtainable in the social sciences and sometimes in the arts and humanities; it enquires into the real life context of an individual research case through interview, experimentation and deliberate observation. The case under study could be a person, group, an event, a place or a product.

How do you practice case study interview skills?

Practice with your contemporaries
The most recommendable and practicable ways to practice case study interview skill is to do some rub minds with your colleagues. You throw real questions at them, they respond expansively and vice versa.
If you really want to practice with skill, practice with the real questions. I guess the question that would come to mind now is;

What sort of questions can I ask in case study interview?
Context questions: The interview begins with you after exchanging pleasantries; you could begin with a question like ‘would you give an overview of …..’(Something personal that relates to the topic in view). From the responses you get, you can then point out other areas he needs to elaborate more on. Do not programme your questions or limit them to a yes and no response; It makes the interview generally boring; you have to set the ball rolling and let the interviewee run.

Other area you must not fail to ask questions about includes;

• Period of occurrence and intervals (when)

• Role(what, who)

• Usefulness (how, why)