Question.700 - Interview Assignment Directions Conduct interviews with at least five (5) individuals regarding a subject covered in our course and readings. It's often helpful to look over all the chapters, Discussion Forums, and your previous papers to help select a topic that interests you. Then narrow that topic down to a "research question," or a central question that can be addressed in the interviews. In turn, your interviews will build around that central research question. You may never ask the participants the exact research question, but the questions you do ask them will relate to that research question. These will allow you to learn, through others' perspectives, something about human behavior and give you some insight into your own personal bias as well as the research process. Ask all interviewees the same questions, but if one provides useful insight, feel free to add the question for the remaining subjects. While you should write out each interview in question-and-answer format, the final product you submit should be synthesized, guided by the topics addressed and questions posed. It is the student researchers job to analyze the interviews and present an overall summation of the information as it pertains to the topic explored. Interviews should be summarized and analyzed in context of the system or societal structure you are addressing as well as from the personal experience or perspectives provided by the subjects you interview. The purpose of this assignment is to become more familiarized with the subject matter on a personal level by conversing with persons who are familiar with the topic due to their professional position or their interaction with the system either through personal experience or as an advocate. Naturally, it is not anticipated that students will have ready access to professionals who deal with a particular subject matter. Thus, it is fine to interview personal acquaintances; however, it is important that the student select informed and insightful people who will provide substantiated perceptions positions on the topic. After recording the demographic information of each interviewee (or "participant"), the student must ask a minimum of 5 substantive questions relevant to your selected topic of inquiry. First, you will need to determine the demographic variables which consist of anything that is part of the persons background may or may not affect their perspective on the topic. You will note during analysis that these demographic variables will reveal variation in the perspectives they provide. In this case, you are going to want to know the gender, age, race, education, occupation, socio-economic status and at least one other independent variable (e.g., experience with the subject matter, religion, political affiliation) relevant to the subject. Start your substantive questions off by asking about the basis of the interviewees familiarity with the topic and the extent of their familiarity. Then ask them three or more questions pertaining to aspects of the topic that you wish to know more about as indicated by anything you have read or thought on the subject thus far including observations from prior interviews. For the final question, ask the person to provide you with some conclusions and potential suggestions. Do not report the names of the individuals you interview. The subjects are to remain confidential so they feel free to speak without concern about how they will be perceived by others. Tell them it is for a class project and it will go no further than the teachers grading table. Some of you may personally know people who have dealt with your topic and they would be great as interviewees. Someone who is well educated or keeps us with events by daily reading may also prove to be a worthwhile subject for the interview. In any event, try to talk with someone who will at least be able to use their intellect to provide you with their perspective on the matter. Again, do not report the interviews in form of answer and question. You should provide the demographics for each subject and the subjects in the aggregate (e.g., 5 subjects, 3 white, 1 Black, 1 Hispanic; 3 men, 2 women; ages range from 26 to 65, etc.) Then, provide the responses for each question in the aggregate (i.e., synthesize looking for common themes, categories, patterns and rich points among the collective answers to each question). In other words, do not simply say, I interviewed a 56 year old, white male who works at the prison and he said this, that and the other thing. The second subject was a 32 year old Hispanic female who is a nurse and she said the same thing to question 1 but something else to questions 3 to 5. Rather, make statements like, I asked the subjects whether they believed that marijuana was a harmful drug if done in moderation. In response, three of the subjects stated that it was not as harmful as harder drugs, while the other two subjects were adamant that all drugs are equally harmful. Of those who thought marijuana was not harmful in moderation, one stated that alcohol has much more deleterious effects and another stated that her concern was that the grade of marijuana available today is much stronger than it used to be when she was young. It is interesting to note that the individual who compared the substance to alcohol was a police officer while the subject concerned about the strength of the drug was a nurse. For the paper (the numbers indicate paragraphs), (1) write out a brief introduction to the topic; (2) provide the demographic breakdown of your subjects; (3-7) address each question and synthesize the responses, and highlight rich points as you go; (8) provide an overall analysis of the information you gained on the topic; and (9) write a summary of what you learned about your topic from the experience and what questions remain that can be examined in future research projects. You must incorporate concepts, research findings, and/or theories from the readings into your analysis of the interviews. Include in-text citations and reference lists in APA format. Grade based on clear presentation of interviews, analysis that includes material from our course, grammar, and proper citations.

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