What is an expert interview?

An expert interview is a conversation with someone whose research, training or professional experience lets them explain or judge a topic for your readers. Reporters use it to add authority, and researchers use it as a qualitative method to learn from people with specialist knowledge of a field.

How do you find an expert to interview?

Start with the authors of the report or study your story is about, university press offices and faculty pages, and professional associations. Then ask each expert who else you should speak to, including someone who disagrees with them.

Should I send questions to an expert before the interview?

You can share the topics and any numbers you want them to bring, which helps them prepare. Keep the right to ask follow-up questions and don't agree to limit the interview to a written list.

Can an expert approve their quotes before publication?

In journalism the usual answer is no. Most guidance says not to let sources require quote approval. You can check facts and how you describe their work, without offering a veto over wording or the story.

Should I record an expert interview?

Yes, with consent. Ask before you start and again once the recording is running. Recording law differs by state and country, so check the rules where you and the expert are before you press record.

Expert Interview: Prepare, Ask and Quote

Priya had 25 minutes with an epidemiologist and a deadline at six. She asked good questions, got a sharp quote about "a season that started three weeks early," and filed.

The next morning the expert emailed: the three weeks came from a regional dashboard, not her own study, and she had said so on the call. Priya had missed the caveat because her notes stopped at the good line. (Priya is a composite, not a real person.)

That is the risk in every expert interview. Experts give you authority, but only if you pick the right one, ask questions that turn their knowledge into plain language, and check what they claimed before it runs under their name.

This guide covers what is specific to interviewing experts: how to find and vet one, how to prepare, a 20-question bank, how to check their claims, and how to handle quote review without giving away editorial control. For the general craft of any interview (ground rules, silence, follow-ups), see our guide on how to conduct an interview.

Want every caveat on tape, not just the good line? Try ParrotNotes free and record your next expert interview on your phone.

What an expert interview is

An expert interview is a conversation with someone whose knowledge, research or professional experience lets them explain or judge something your readers can't check for themselves. The expert is not the subject of your story. A witness tells you what happened. An expert tells you what it means, how common it is, and whether a claim holds up.

That changes the job. With an expert you are borrowing authority. Readers need to know why this person should be believed and where their knowledge ends.

Find and vet the expert: the five-check card

Credentials on a bio page are a start, not a check. Run these five checks before you book the call.

Check	What to look at	Red flag
1. Field fit	Is your question inside their field, or next to it? A cardiologist is not automatically an expert on hospital staffing.	They are famous, but for something else
2. Track record	Recent papers (Google Scholar), books, reports, or years in the role you need	Nothing published or done in the area for a decade
3. Corrections and retractions	Search their name in the Retraction Watch Database and in news corrections	A retraction on the very topic you are asking about
4. Interests	Employer, funders, board seats, products they sell, clients they advise	An interest you only find after publication
5. Standing	What other experts in the field say about them; ask "who disagrees with you?"	No one in the field has heard of them, or everyone has and winces

Check 4 matters because the SPJ Code of Ethics asks journalists to "avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived" and to disclose the ones they can't avoid. An expert's interest isn't your conflict, but readers deserve to know it. Name the funder or employer in the story when it bears on the claim.

Where to look: authors of the report your story is about, university press offices, professional associations and researchers that report cites. The Journalist's Resource suggests contacting other academics cited in a paper to ask about its findings, which is also a fast way to find a second voice.

Prepare an expert interview

Read their work first. Not all of it. The Journalist's Resource recommends reading enough to "speak a little of the expert's professional language," and for an academic paper, at least the introduction and conclusion. Experts give better answers to someone who has done the reading.

Send a short brief. IJNet's Damian Radcliffe advises explaining what the piece is about, who the audience is and when you need a response before you sit down. Three sentences are enough:

I'm writing a piece for [outlet] on [topic] for [audience]. I'd like 20 minutes on [the one thing you need from them]. My deadline is [date and time].

Share topics, not a script. Let them pull numbers, but keep the right to follow up on anything.

Ask for consent to record, on the record. Ask before you start and again once the recorder is running. Recording law varies by state and country. Our guide to one-party consent states covers the US basics, and the Reporters Committee keeps a state-by-state recording guide.

Expert interview questions: a 20-question bank

Most lists of interview questions are built for people. These are built for expertise. Use the five stages in order and pick one or two from each.

1. Orient (what they know and how)

What part of this have you worked on yourself, and what do you know from others' work?
How would you describe your field to someone outside it?
What is the best evidence on this question right now?
Is this inside your area, or would someone else answer it better?

2. Explain (the plain-language version)

How would you explain this to a smart 15-year-old?
What is the one thing most people get wrong about it?
Can you give me a concrete example I could describe to readers?
What number should readers remember, and where does it come from?

3. Challenge (where it could be wrong)

What would change your mind?
Who in your field disagrees with you, and what is their best argument?
How sure are you, on a scale your colleagues would recognize?
What does the evidence not show yet?

4. Translate (what it means for readers)

What should a reader do differently after reading this?
Who is most affected, and who isn't?
What would you tell a family member who asked you this?
What's the question I should have asked but didn't?

5. Refer (what to read and who to call)

Which paper or report should I read next?
Who else should I speak to, including someone who sees it differently?
Can you send me the source for the numbers you mentioned?
May I contact you to check facts and quotes before publication?

Questions in stage 3 are where expert interviews earn their keep. An expert who can name the strongest counterargument usually knows the field. One who can't is often selling something.

During the call: get the evidence, not just the line

Ask "how do you know that?" after every number. Experts mix their own findings with things they've read. Your story needs to know which is which, which is exactly the caveat Priya missed.

Ask for the short version twice. The first answer is often hedged and technical. "If you had one sentence for readers?" usually gets the quote.

Mark times while you talk. The Journalist's Resource suggests noting the recording time of any notable quote, so you can find and verify it later. Write "14:20 three weeks early" on your pad and the search later takes seconds.

Let the phone keep the record. With ParrotNotes recording an in-person interview, you can keep your eyes on the expert. Afterward you get a transcript and a summary, and each recording has its own AI chat, so you can ask "Where did she explain where the three weeks came from?" and go straight to the passage. On Pro, AI search looks across all your interviews, and transcription works in 99+ languages with translation, useful when the best expert on your topic answers in Spanish or German.

Download ParrotNotes free and keep the full conversation, caveats included, on the phone you already carry.

Check the claims before you quote

An expert's quote carries their authority, so a wrong number in it does double damage. Before you file, fill in this claim-check sheet for every factual claim the expert made.

Claim (as said)	Time in recording	Their source	Their own work or someone else's?	Checked against	Status
"Started three weeks early"	14:20	Regional dashboard	Someone else's	Dashboard, weekly report	Attribute to dashboard

Rules for the sheet:

Every number gets a source you have seen. If the expert can't send it, either attribute it clearly ("she estimates") or cut it.
"Their own work" goes in the story. If the claim comes from someone else's study, say so and link that study.
Opinions stay opinions. "This is the worst season in a decade" is a judgment. Attribute it as one.

Dan, a freelance writer, interviewed a structural engineer for a guide on home renovations. The engineer said a certain beam "can span 20 feet." On the sheet, Dan wrote "source?" and emailed.

The answer: it depends on the load and the timber grade, and the engineer would only stand behind "depends on the span tables." The guide got more accurate, and the engineer kept trusting him. (Dan is a composite, not a real person.)

How to edit and cite the final wording is covered in our guide on how to quote an interview.

Quote approval vs fact check: the norm and the email

Experts, especially academics and company staff, often ask to approve quotes. The journalism norm is clear.

The Journalist's Resource says not to let anyone require approval of quotations before publication, and IJNet calls sharing the full story in advance "a journalistic no-no." But IJNet also notes that checking attributed quotes and facts with the source is fine, especially on sensitive or unfamiliar topics.

So check facts, not approval. Send this after the interview:

Thank you for your time today. Before publication I'm checking facts. Here is how I've described your research and the two numbers I'm using: [list]. Could you tell me if any of these are factually wrong by [time]? I can't offer approval of quotes or the story, but I want the facts to be right.

That wording invites corrections without promising a veto. If an expert insists on approval as a condition of the interview, raise it with your editor before you agree to anything. Our guide to the journalism code of ethics covers the wider principles.

Content writers working for a brand have different norms. Many companies agree quote review with the expert up front. If that's your arrangement, say so in writing before the call.

Expert interviews for research and theses

In academic research, "expert interview" is also a method: you interview people because of their specialist or insider knowledge of a field, usually with a semi-structured guide. Lena, a master's student, ran eight expert interviews with logistics managers for her thesis.

She used the five-check card to pick them and the stage 3 questions to find where they disagreed, which became her best chapter. (Lena is a composite, not a real person.)

Research adds rules a reporter doesn't have: ethics approval, written consent forms, anonymity agreements and a coding plan. Follow your institution's process, and see our guide to the semi-structured interview for building the guide and probes. Hiring and recruiting interviews are a different job again; for those, use an interview notes template.

Pick well, ask hard, check everything

A good expert interview comes down to three habits:

Pick well. Run the five-check card before you book.
Ask hard. Use the stage 3 questions, and ask "how do you know that?" after every number.
Check everything. Fill the claim-check sheet and send the fact-check email, not an approval request.

The caveat that saves your story is usually said once, in passing. Make sure you have it. Try ParrotNotes free: record your next expert interview, get the transcript and summary, and ask the recording where the expert explained the number before you quote it.

Expert Interview: How to Prepare, Ask and Quote

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