The interview I keep rewriting

Sixth draft of the interview protocol today. Each round I cut the same question, and each round I put it back.

The question is: “When did you first notice that this had changed?”

I keep cutting it because it presumes a moment, and presuming a moment is leading. I keep putting it back because every single pilot interview produced its best material within ninety seconds of me asking it.

What I think is actually happening: the question is bad as a request for facts and good as a request for a story. People do not have accurate memories of when things changed. They do have well-rehearsed narratives about it, and the narrative is the thing I am studying.

So the fix is not to cut the question. It is to stop pretending the answer is data about timing.