Questions reporters may ask

While you may be prepared to talk about your most recent paper at the drop of a hat, reporters are more likely to be coming to you to fact-check a statement, to provide scientific context on a local event, to weigh in on someone else’s recent research, or to speak generally on your field of research. What questions you might get during an interview depends on the specific story the reporter is writing and the audience they’re writing for. If you have the time, part of your interview prep should involve thinking through the questions you’re likely to get for this particular story and how you want to answer them.

Here are some questions a reporter might ask regardless of the goal of the story:

• What made you decide to study this topic?
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  Why is this research important? (Why should my audience care?)

• Who does this research affect most?
• What should readers know about this topic?
• What’s something people tend to misunderstand about this topic?
• What are the big unanswered questions in this field or about this issue?
• Is there any disagreement among scientists about this subject? What are the sides of that disagreement?
• Is there anything I didn’t ask that you wanted to share?

Here are some questions a reporter might ask if they’re covering your most recent paper:

• Can you explain this study to me like I’m a third grader?
• What are the key findings from this work?
• How do these results support or refute others in the field?
• What are the big-picture implications of these findings?
• Can you walk me through how you did this study?
• What are the limitations of this study?
• Did anything about your findings surprise you?
• What are the next steps in this line of research?

Here are some questions a reporter might ask when they want you to weigh in on someone else’s study:

• What do you think of the methods the researchers used?
• Do you agree with their conclusions?
• What are the strengths of this study? The weaknesses?
• How do these findings fit with the bigger picture of the field?

Further reading: questions to ask when interviewing a scientist and go-to interview questions for news stories.

Adapted from Go-to questions for interviewing scientists, part of the Science Reporting Quick Tips series by SciLine and The Open Notebook.