In this assignment you will conduct an interview with an individual in an area related to the theme and, ideally, related to your research proposal topic. Pay particular attention of pages 78-89 of Lofland and Lofland as you work on this assignment. You may want to use the questions from the burglary study as models of what open ended questions should look like.
Exact details of who will be interviewed will be discussed prior to the assignment. However, the subjects must be adults and must NOT be individuals over whom you have any actual or perceived power, such as clients at a job or field placement site. You will (a) prepare a number (at least 5) of open ended questions designed to elicit in-depth responses, (b) carry out the interview and (c) write up the results (a transcript plus paragraph(s) describing--but not naming--who you interviewed and where the interview took place and very briefly summarizing the interview). Please consider carefully who you will interview if the interview is on a potentialy upsetting topic. You will promise confidentiality to your respondant, so if you interview a relative or friend you may be put in an awkward situation in the future. Voluntary, informed consent must be obtained for the interview although in order to protect the respondant's privacy you should not ask for signed consent.
The consent form should be along these lines: My name is _________. I would like to interview you about _________ for a sociology class on research methods that I am taking. The interview is totally voluntary, and you can stop at any time or not answer any particular question. Your name will not be revealed to anyone and only my instructor will read the interview transcript. The interview should take about thirty minutes. If you have any questions you can contact my instructor at Lehman College at 718-960-7820. I would appreciate it if you would allow me to do the interview.
In the interview you should concentrate on a small part of the subject's life experience, preferably something that has a beginning, a middle and an end. Some examples would be:
In addition to the interview, you should observe the person's normal surroundings and/or the surroundings in the place where you do the interview and his or her appearance. Hand in: A description of the surroundings and the person, a brief summary of the interview, and the interview transcript. The latter may be hand written.