Blogging question: Can my researcher do interviews?

My blog readers sometimes ask questions that could help you. For example,  a reader asked me about having an assistant help her with research for a blog post.

Can my assistant interview people for my blog posts?

Here’s what my reader asked. I’ve removed information that might identify the questioner.

I’d love your opinion on something. I have a gal helping me with my blog. She will be giving me an outline of points for an article about what they are looking for in a specific service. Then I will complete the writing. My question: Will I be shooting myself in the foot if I ask her to do one or two phone interviews with these folks? Any idea what the etiquette is here? Will they be wanting to hear from me directly if I don’t know them?

My answer: It depends.

Here’s what I said:

It depends how you position her interviews. If you position her as a good researcher who’ll ensure their thoughts are conveyed accurately, that could work.

Actually, I think they may be more concerned about the following issues:

• How will your blog post benefit them? What are your monthly unique visit statistics or other metrics that reflect your influence? Will you provide links to their websites so they get a little link love? Will your post help them because they can use it to educate people who contact them?
• Will you give them the opportunity to check that their thoughts are communicated accurately? While journalists don’t do this, it’s not unusual for bloggers to do this.

 Your opinion?

Have you ever had an assistant interview a source for your blog? How did you handle it? Did it work for you?