People I would consider interviewing in my community would be ones that share a certain array of features of character. They should be well-educated, confident people with an untarnished record of their professional activities. That is why those who meet all these requirements may happen to be leaders of NGOs, young local politicians as well as representatives of different movements, of any nature ranging from political to environmental.
Also, since the entire community is meant to consider following footsteps of these chosen individuals, I think they all must be bearers of futurological ideas, new inventions and progressive opinions. This is because they are those who lead the entire community to a different, better future.
Here are some question I would deem the most relevant to put to the chosen people:
Have you ever dreamt of being a leader? What was your way towards reaching this status?
Now, that you have become the example for others to follow, what have been and still are your personal examples? What have they achieved? Are the circumstances they were or are in compatible with those you find yourself in currently?
How do you think, what are the primary ways you can invest into the welfare of the community? Is this more through values you can promote or specific practices you can implement?
Do you have any specific projects in mind that you could start with? What spheres do they cover? How about other spheres?
What are the results you expect from your input into the societal leadership? What are going to be the obstacles you may face? Which methods will you use to change the society you are leading for the better?
The primary issues I would encounter during the interviews would be these: different backgrounds of the interviewed people which would complicate putting all the results of interviews in a single picture; personal bias – in virtue of my own views and opinions I would treat certain people with more sympathy than the others. Finally, the biggest problem would be the unreliability of answers to unstructured questions whereas precision would be highly appreciated.
References
Brown, Mitchell. (2014). Applied Research Methods in Public & Non-Profit Organizations. San-Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
