APA Citations (7th ed.)

An interview is a dialogue or exchange of information between people.

There are three types of interviews as sources:

• Published interviews
• Personal interviews
• Research participant interviews

Published interviews may appear in magazines, newspapers, podcasts, YouTube videos, etc.

Personal interviews are those you conduct as a means of obtaining information to support a point in your paper. These types of interviews cannot be recovered.

Research participant interviews are those you conducted as part of your methodology.

To cite a published interview, follow the format for the reference type (e.g., magazine article, podcast episode). 

In-text citation:

     (Shea & Ericson, 2021)

Readers cannot recover personal interviews. Because of this, cite a personal interview as a personal communication.

In-text citation:

     (A. Tolliver, personal communication, September 15, 2021)

Research participant interviews do not require a citation in APA because you do not cite your own work in the paper in which it is first being reported.

Information gathered from participants can be presented and discussed in a paper according to these guidelines:

• Present a quotation of fewer than 40 words in quotation marks within the text
• Present a quotation of 40 words or more in block quotation
• State in the text that the quotations are from participants
• Abide by the ethical agreements regarding confidentiality and/or anonymity. Obtain consent from your participants to include their information in your report. You may need to assign participants a pseudonym, obscure identifying information, or present information in the aggregate.

See p. 278 of the manual for more information and examples.