The Action Research Project is a new initiative of PUKAR whose objective is to monitor the impact of Youth Fellowship Programme of the participating youths. The Action Research Project is based on the interview method. To make the Action Research Team conversant with the techniques of conducting interview at a professional level, PUKAR had invited Mr. Niloo Damle, a veteran journalist, to conduct a workshop on interview skills.

Niloo Damle began the workshop with defining what interview means. According to him, this basic journalistic technique means making people, incidents and documents speak. His power point presentation showed pictures of different people across the globe from different fields whom he has interviewed and in between he spoke on how to develop the art of conducting an interview. He laid a strong emphasis on interviewer having prior knowledge about the subject which he called having domain knowledge.

He stated that first and foremost principle is to establish equality, respect and trust with the subject while conducting an interview. The interviewer must communicate these through words, tone, body language, attitude and appropriate attire. He focused on special skills required to interview women where creating a sense of equality and getting out of patronizing attitudes was of a crucial importance for a good interview. Mr. Damle placed a sharp focus on keeping an open mind to various views expressed by the interviewee and not to impose any kind of postural judgment. Other points that he mentioned was shedding of inhibitions and keeping humility in the process. This enables people to conduct an unbiased interview. He explained the differences between knowledge, information, understanding, experience, cognition, and conceptualization, all of which are exchanged during the process of interview. He informed how knowledge is generated though the process of education, experiences born out of sensitivities and perceptions, cognition and collated though different sources and people.

In the second half of the session Mr. Damle conducted an exercise which was based on role play, where he acted as the moderator. The Action Research Assistants sat turn by turn and conducted the interviews of the Youth Fellows who were present in the workshop. This particular exercise turned out to be very beneficial for the Research Assistants as it gave them a first hand experience of conducting the actual interview, the various skills needed for negotiating the space between the two people, the ethical norms and cultural inhibitions one must be aware of within that negotiation process and finally the humility and politeness which forms the underpinning of this process.

Overall the workshop was a success and the Action Research Team Assistants who have attended the workshop claimed to have benefited from it.