ABSTRACT
Interviewing is extremely valuable for helping young children to understand that different people can have very different ideas about the same environment or issue. It is a basic technique for any community environmental research project. It may not, however, seem to many readers to be a particularly appropriate technique for children. Young children are commonly intimidated by the idea of interviewing adults, and many adults, particularly in certain cultures, find the idea of a child interviewing them strange. A successful interview, however, can dramatically change an adult's opinion of the capacities of a young child. Therefore, if a child is well prepared for interviewing, the act itself can be an important step in changing the perception of Children's competencies and potential value to the community. It is a method with which children are extremely familiar from television and radio news programmes, and one that can often serve to empower children quickly with the realization that they can themselves become the collectors and purveyors of information.
