Sample for Interview Questions--Providing Context for your Subject

I am providing an example from a student's email for you to consider as a model. This is a very good example because the interviewer contextualizes the questions for his/her subject. I hope this is helpful for those of you who are still in the process of scheduling and conducting your interviews.

I am writing to you in the hopes that you'd be able to answer several questions about my intended vocation as an airline pilot since you've had much experience working in the field. I am sorry I cannot stage this interview in person but your office hours don't align with my schedule, and hopefully hosting it as an email will allow us to work around this predicament. While most of my questions will revolve around the pilot aspect of aviation, any insight you can provide into the Air Traffic Control side of aviation would be greatly appreciated. Please feel free to skip any questions that you do not feel comfortable answering.

1. What kind of effects have you noticed that stress has on you and you're crew-mates' ability to perform their job and has it been a detriment to your health? 

I am asking this question because I am wondering if you have experienced or noticed others having difficult times concentrating while working because of events that have happened outside of the workplace, experiencing moments of high pressure and stress while on duty, or noticed changes in someone's well being due to their career.

2. Have you experienced fierce competition applying for jobs or trying to increase in rank in your company? Do you know if the amount of competition has stayed the same or changed since leaving your field?

I'm particularly curious because I know that getting a job working as an airline pilot for a major company is extremely difficult, and that it is easier to just start off small, but I am also hearing that soon many of the current aviators will naturally start to retire because there was a major jump in hirings several decades ago. I would like to know if you have any opinions about the validity of the statement and if you've seen or heard any stories of pilots working the same position for an unusual amount of time or rising through the ranks very quickly.

3. Have you ever found that your workplace's demands encroached too much upon your home-life?

I'm asking because I'd like to live in a home and start a family, as well as maintain relationships with my mother, father, and sister, and am wondering if you've noticed any pilots having difficulty keeping their work and home separate, and if it put any unwanted stresses on them.

4. Have you gained a new outlook on life because of your job?

Has flying in the military, internationally, or domestically exposed you to new aspects of life that you would have otherwise not experienced? I particularly like that in being a pilot I will be exposed to a lot of traveling and will be able to experience new cultures or styles that in many other jobs would've stayed on the other side of the world.

5. With much more automation being incorporated into aviation, do you feel that the new generation of pilot's may be replaced by computers in the next several decades?

This is a change that most likely would not be done soon, but with all the improvements in computational technology and things like self driving cars do you think that the new pilots coming into the field may be the last as companies start to favor superior but potentially problematic machines instead of the currently preferred flesh and blood human beings?

6. What was your overall experience working as an airline pilot? Do you look back on it as time well spent? Do you wish some aspects of your job could have been improved upon or done differently?

Thank you for any and all answers you provide, as they will all be greatly appreciated. Please feel free to answer these questions whenever comfortable and at your own pace, but if answers could be received in a week or a week and a half I will be very grateful.