Posted: April 7th, 2015

WK7 P5: II

WK7 P5: II

Order Description

Using methods taught in class to conduct an interview with a person of your choice. That person needs to meet certain requirements (i.e., you can’t just choose anyone), and they must be willing and able to meet with you in voice-to-voice communication during that week (e.g., in person, phone, Adobe Connect, or Skype).

Read the following topic: Childhood play and toys: e.g., how your informant played as a child; favorite kinds of toys and places to play; contrasts and/or similarities to modern toys and play.
Think of who you know who fits that category and could be your interview subject. Then, contact that person to ask if they are willing. Be sure to let them know that this is for a class assignment and that you’ll need to meet them. Set plans for your meeting (which you can change later if needed).

Once you have an interview subject who agrees, answer the following:

• Name of interview subject
• How you know the interview subject
• Which category from the assignment the interview subject falls into, and why you’ve selected this person (e.g., military experience from 30 years in the Navy)
• Specific plans for when and where your interview will take place (e.g., 10 am December 12 at Starbucks)

Next, you will interview an older relative or friend, using the techniques learned in class. Your written report will show both what you learned during the interview and your mastery of the interview techniques.
Identify a family member or friend who is willing to participate in this project. The person should be significantly older than you, and preferably of a different generation. Talk with your informant about the following topic:
Childhood play and toys: e.g., how your informant played as a child; favorite kinds of toys and places to play; contrasts and/or similarities to modern toys and play.
Set up one or more mutually agreeable times to talk together. Your interview must be conducted in voice-tovoice communication. Therefore, meeting in person, talking by phone, or Skype are all acceptable, but e-mail, texting, and instant messaging are not. Give your informant a general idea of the topics you’ll be asking about, but do not provide a specific list of questions in advance.
Your interview should be at least 30 minutes and ideally an hour, and you may conduct multiple interviews if you want (with the same person). While doing this project, you must apply at least five interviewing/oral history techniques that we learned in class. Look over your notes and decide which techniques you will make a conscious effort to use. Prepare for your interview by developing a short Interview Guide of topics and questions, as described in class. Assume that you will not need to ask all of the questions; better to be prepared with too many options than too few. As you conduct the interview, create follow-up questions based on what your informant tells you, as demonstrated in class, rather than sticking rigidly to your prepared list.
During the interview, you must take notes in some way. If you have the capability, you may record your conversation (with your informant’s permission) and later make notes from it. However, these notes are not your written report. They are the rough data from which you will develop your paper, but they are not a paper by themselves (i.e., do not simply hand in a transcript of your interview). Your job is to analyze and draw selectively from the data you collect, to create a readable report that addresses what’s most important and interesting from your interview. Direct quotes are acceptable, but your report must be more than a series of quotes.
When you review your notes, think about you can organize what you’ve learned in a meaningful way. For example, in an interview about educational experiences, you might notice your informant focused on four themes (e.g., their early years in school, their high school years, their teachers, and their friends). You could then discuss these four themes one-by-one in your report, rather than simply describing a hodgepodge of everything your informant said. In other words, your report needs to be internally organized around specific themes, even if your interview itself wandered from topic to topic.
Your paper should use APA format, including a cover sheet, page numbers, double-spaced, and free of spelling and grammar errors. Do not write an abstract. Please read over your paper and correct errors before handing it in.
1. In the first paragraph, introduce your informant and the topic of your interview. Describe who your informant is, what relationship you have with them, and a brief summary of what’s important to know about them. Assume your reader has no idea who your informant is, and consider yourself to be writing for a formal audience.
For example, starting with “I interviewed Grampa who I love” is inappropriate, but “My informant was my grandfather, Ronaldo Gomez, age 76, who served in the US Army for 28 years in Kansas, Korea, and California” is fine.
2. In the second paragraph, describe the circumstances of your interview(s). Mention the setting, mode of communication (phone, face to face, etc.), date, time, approximate duration of interview, how and when you took notes, and anything else you think is relevant.

3. For the next several pages, describe what you learned. As explained above, this body of your paper must be organized in a meaningful way, not simply a recapitulation of the interview. Do not list the exact questions you asked your informant; instead, incorporate your informant’s responses into your paper. That’s because you’re writing a paper, not just an interview transcript. Here are two illustrative examples:
• Poorly written: “I asked him what kinds of toys he played with when he was a kid. He responded by saying that he mostly played outside with balls and bikes, but sometimes played with his five sisters and their dolls.”
• Strongly written: “When Steve was a child, he mostly played outside with traditional masculine toys like balls and bats. But he also played sometimes with his five sisters and their dolls.”
4. In the next-to-last paragraph, name the five (or more) techniques for oral history interviewing you applied during this project, and explain how you applied each one.

5. In the last paragraph, describe how your interview felt different (or didn’t feel different) from a normal conversation. Finally, discuss what, if anything, you would do differently if you were starting this project from the beginning.

Grading:
The introduction to the informant and description of the interview setting are thorough and detailed. The paper is richly textured, with specific and appropriate details for each theme addressed. The writer does not repeat the interview questions. At least six specific and accurate techniques are identified. Their application in this project is clearly explained. The final paragraph includes detailed and thoughtful reflection on how the interview contrasted with a conversation and on how the writer would proceed differently if starting over. The body of the paper is very clearly organized around specific themes. Each theme is clearly introduced, with transitions between themes. There are almost no errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

Source:
Chapter 10 in Earl Babbie, The Basics of Social Research, 6th ed. Wadsworth, 2014. ISBN 113359414X

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