Well, I'd say it's a matter of your approach. If you are using narrative interviews, it's implied that you are not looking for an accurate recall of the event but you are focusing on the meanings that your participants assigned to that particular event with time and experience. I'd say to keep in mind that participants' age and actual time spent from the event (in relation to their age) may have some kind of impact...

If you are looking for an accurate recall of the event, well, hopefully someone here will be able to help you!

Once you have decided your approach it should be easier to find studies in literature using the same methodology.

In both cases can be useful to use photos, objects or other kind of tools that can help the person you are interviewing to remember details (photo elicitation).

Hi

Make sure that you educate yourself and decide on the focus of your research for the topics of the past intended. I know a colleague who did her Doctoral dissertation including x-fighters for her topic on Peace Education. She used in-depth interviews and focus group research.

Cheers

I don't know the specifics of your topic, but oral history might be an appropriate option to look into as well.

I agree that oral history as a focus is a good place to start while I would add that life history such as Mandelbaum, D.G., (1973). The Study of Life History: Gandhi. Current Anthropology, 14(3), 177-206, will provide some guidance. Its an oldie but a goodie!

You might try cognitive interviewing. Gordon Willis has a book that thoroughly describes this procedure.

I agree with Hussin Hejase. Specify the focus of your research. Me too, I did not get what you want to explore. Which of the following you want to explore in your study?

(a) the ability to recall the events experienced nearly 10 years ago

(b) the impact of recalling the events experienced nearly 10 years ago

(c) how they live life with the event they experienced nearly 10 years ago

In my understanding of your question these are the suggested factors to consider in the conduct of interview to explore events people experienced nearly 10 years ago. These factors may serve as your inclusion criteria for study participants.

(a) Age of participant at the time of interview

(b) Age of participant when event was experienced

(c) Significant demographic profile of participant

(d) Kind of event to recall

(e) Health factor affecting memory recall

(f) Emotional and psychological impact of recalling the event

Good luck

I agree with what had been already said. I would also add it depends on the impact of the event on the person being interviewed. I interview individuals who have had a near-death experience. That even is typically remembered with great clarity and detail. Also I like triangulating data. If you also can collect records, artifacts, and so forth, they can be helpful to compare with what the person says. With near-death experiences, I've been able to pull hospital records.I can verify at least some of the events. The meaning of the event to the person, as others have said, is crucial.

I see that you are from the University of Technology. Is this study also about any specific tecnology? I used narrative inquiry to collect 92 interviews from visitors, museum staff and designers about one on-going exhbition at the Immigration Museum in Melbourne (2009-2010), using immersive technology. I wrote some papers about this research, maybe they can be useful for you. I can also suggest to read some of the papers by Linda Mussacchio, who also using narrativi inquiry, in the filed of management and organization studies. Based on my own experience, yes, you can use narrative inquiry, also digital storytelling, to collect narratives about a more recent past.

Hi,

Your question is intriguing and made me think of three sources that may help you.

One is a golden oldie:

Cohen, Anne B. 1973. Poor Pearl, Poor Girl: The Murdered Girl Stereotype in Ballad and Newspaper.  Austin:  Univ. of Texas Press.

Cohen, a folklorist, talks about the profound influence of ballad stereotypes about murdered sweethearts, and about their murdering boyfriends, on professional journalistic reports of murdered sweethearts in newpapers.

Also, an essay available online:

Alcock, J.  1995. "The Belief Engine" in Skeptical Enquirer 19:3 May/June pp. 14-18.

Alcock, a psychologist, contends that the nervous system is a belief-generating machine less influenced by accuracy than by what lies in our own best interest; that we naturally combine new information with information from memory, and produce beliefs that are generally consistent with beliefs already held.

My findings on demonstrably unfounded academic reconstructions of the purported crypto-Jewish past in New Mexico, seem to uphold both Cohen and Alcock.  If interested in examples, see:

Neulander, J. "Inventing Jewish History, Culture and Genetic Identity in Modern New Mexico" in Who is a Jew?: Reflections on History, Religion and Culture," ed. Leonard Greenspoon. West Lafayette IN: Purdue University Press. (2014) pp. 69-104.

The section that specifically discusses this phenomenon is on pp.  84-91.  I should add that this volume was edited in a hurry; a paragraph is repeated on the first page, and there are some minor blips throughout, but the study is detailed and illustrated, and the information is accurate.

Good luck,

Judith