Interview Project

 Questions prepared prior to the interview

 Notes taken during the interview in their raw format

 Audio recording of the interview (if utilized) in its raw format

 Interview Report (3 pages, double-spaced)

Goals

1) To learn about another generation’s perspective on childrearing practices across time

2) To become familiar with face-to-face interviews as a process by which to gather information 3) To write a report on a childrearing topic that identifies similarities and differences across

generations

Instructions

For this project, you are required to conduct a face-to-face interview with your parent/caregiver on a topic related to childrearing discussed in Lightfoot, Cole, and Cole (2018). The face-to-face interview must occur in-person or via video apps, such as FaceTime, Skype, or WhatsApp.

The interview must concentrate on your parent’s/caregiver’s perspectives on a topic of childrearing as it pertains their own childhood and your childhood as they raised you. In the interview, it may help to imagine yourself as a researcher who is interested in learning about similarities and differences in childrearing practices across generations.

Examples of childrearing topics that may be the focus of your interview include: family structure, developmental transitions, children’s and adults’ work activities, gender roles, and so on (Refer to Lightfoot, Cole, & Cole, 2018).

Be sure to ask your parent/caregiver (i.e., interviewee) whether they view any similarities and/or variations in the childrearing practices discussed across the different generations. Follow up with questions that help them elaborate as to why they think these childrearing practices may have persisted or changed over the two generations.

Remember that the goal of this project is to gather information about the parent’s/caregiver’s perspectives. Thus, their perspectives on and interpretations of their experiences as a child or in raising you may not coincide with your views.

If the interviewee finds a question uncomfortable or confidential, they should not answer it or should feel free to reformulate it so that it is more comfortable. Questions that fit this project should not touch on delicate topics as such instances would indicate that the interview has strayed.

Prior to the interview: Write a list of questions and potential follow-up questions that address a topic in Lightfoot, Cole, and Cole (2018). Design them so that they encourage the interviewee to provide elaborated responses about the topic. Your grasp of the information the interviewee provides will later inform your write up on childhood in the two generations.

Keep in mind that you are not seeking to make definitive conclusions. Studying human beings, even across generations, requires systematic observations, interviews, and interpretations, continual checks of one’s own impressions to avoid ethnocentrism, and a strong sense of how evidence relates to inferences.

At the outset of the interview: Come prepared to take notes of the interview. If the interviewee agrees, you may audio record the interview.

Psychology 581.02 (Chavajay) Child Development Fall 2019 – Page 2

Interview Report: Your 3-page report (double-spaced) must provide a descriptive account of your parent’s/caregiver’s portrayal of the focal childrearing topic during their own childhood and your childhood (i.e., two generations). Your report must consist of the four sections below:

1. Background information. (about 1⁄2 to 3⁄4 a page) After an introductory sentence or so: a.) Identify the interviewee by their full name and briefly describe their cultural

background in terms of:  their ethnicity

 nation in which they were born

 cultural heritage of the community in which they were raised  their occupation

 their educational background

 total number of their siblings

 number of children they had

b.) Include the following details about the interviewee’s own parents/caregivers (i.e., your grandparents):

 nation in which they were born

 cultural heritage of the community in which they were raised  their occupations

 their educational backgrounds

 total number of siblings.

c.) Conclude by identifying your own ethnicity and the cultural heritage of the community in which you were raised.

2. Reporting on the childrearing topic (about 1 1⁄2 pages): You may organize the descriptive account of your interviewee’s responses by themes or questions. In either case, be certain also to identify how they viewed aspects about the childrearing topic to have been similar or different across the two generations (i.e., their own childhood and your childhood). Do not include any information in the report that your interviewee regards as confidential – it does not fit this assignment.

3. Reflections on the interview process (about 1⁄2 page):

a.) Specify ways you would improve the interview process, if you were to continue the interview

b.) Recommend helpful tips on how to conduct a good interview for future students who plan to undertake this interview project

4. Interview notes and if applicable, audio recorded interview. You must turn in your written notes in raw form (i.e., without having been cleaned up for me). If you audio recorded the interview, the audiotape must also be submitted in raw form.

Item Checklist for Submission of Interview Project:

 Prepared Interview Questions: Submit the questions you developed prior to conducting

the interview in their original handwritten or typed format.

 Interview Notes: Submit your raw written notes taken during the interview, and if applicable, the audio recording of the interview – these notes and audio recording should not be edited or cleaned up.

 Interview Report: Submit your 3-page (double-spaced) report, addressing all sections described above.