13 Jun THE ROLE OF THE FAMILY IN EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT
Research Interview: The Role of the Family in Educational Achievement
This assignment is designed to give you experience conducting a research interview. It focuses on the role that the family plays in shaping people’s educational hopes and aspirations, and in providing the support that people need as they pursue their education. For this assignment you will conduct an interview, analyze your findings, and write them up in a 4-6 page paper.
A social science interview is a type of conversation, but unlike everyday conversations, it is structured and organized, and is designed to gather information on a particular topic. Unlike a survey, which asks a fixed set of questions, an interview typically asks open-ended or semi-structured questions that are designed to explore the interviewee’s experiences, attitudes, and beliefs in depth.
Preparing for the Interview:
Identify a person to interview. The interviewee should be a current college student or a recent college graduate (from CCP or any other institution).
Review the areas to be explored and carefully develop your questions. Be sure to have your questions organized and sequenced, e.g. what question you will ask first, what next. I will provide a number of possible questions. You do not have to use all of them, and you may develop some of your own questions. Just be sure to cover all the important areas in your interview.
When you talk to the person about participating, clarify the purpose of the interview and explain that it is for a class assignment. Indicate that you will be asking about their education experiences and their future plans, and exploring the role that their family has played. Emphasize that their privacy will be protected. Their name is not to be included in the paper, only general identifiers such as their age, gender, race/ethnicity, etc. Schedule a specific time for the interview and ask for a minimum of one hour.
Come prepared to either audio tape the interview (with a reliable audio recorder with fresh batteries, phone or tablet computer with audio capabilities) or to take extensive notes.
Conducting the interview:
Arrive on time and clarify with the interviewee how much time is available to talk. If you have brought a tape recorder or other device, ask if you may use it (be sure to have a notepad and pen as a backup). Start with some general conversation to put the interviewee at ease, but move onto the scheduled questions early, and keep track of your time so you get through your questions. It’s always a good idea to sequence your questions, listing the most important first and ending with question that can be left out if you are running out of time. Do not ask questions that can be answered with a yes or no, they will not give you useful information. However, DO be sure to probe and ask follow up questions when you want more information or an example. Good follow up questions are usually the key to a good paper.
Areas to be explored: a) family background and influences, b) educational history and experience, and c) future plans and aspirations. I provide some possible questions below. These have been field tested in prior research and found to be useful. However, you are not required to strictly follow them. They are meant to be informative, giving you an idea of the types of questions that elicit useful information. You do not have to use all of them, and you may add questions of your own. However, if you develop your own questions, do so thoughtfully, and have them prepared in advanced as part of your sequence of questions.
Start with basic information: ask (or note) the age, gender, race/ethnicity, current educational status, and current job (if currently employed) of the interviewee. Then begin with your formal questions:
A. Family background and influences: Explore the interviewee’s family of origin and the ways in which their family influenced and provided support for their educational plans and aspirations. Possible questions include:
Tell me about the family you grew up in.
Who raised you? Were other relatives important in your life?
What was their education? [identify last year of school completed]
How many people were in your family?
Did you have siblings? [if so] What has been their educational experience?
What were the family expectations about education?
Where you expected to go to college?
Who in the family expressed those expectations most strongly? How were the expectations expressed? e.g. where you told explicitly? Did you just get a sense?
In elementary school, who (if anyone) helped you with your homework? How important was it in the family to regularly do homework?
B. Educational plans and aspirations: Explore where the interviewee is now in his/her education, and their future plans.
How far along are you now in school?
Do you plan to continue toward a further degree? [if so] What are your plans?
When did you decide to go to college?
Who was the biggest influence on you in deciding to enroll in college?
Were any family members or family friends influences on you?
How did you get a sense of the kind of career you wanted to pursue
Who was the biggest influence on you in developing that interest?
When growing up, did you know anyone who had that type of job?
C. Educational history and experience
Tell me about your school experience. Where did you go to elementary school? Where to high school?
What was your school experience like?
When you needed help with school, did you have someone to turn to?
Did anyone advocate for you or advise you?
What has your college experience been like?
Have your ideas about job and career changed since you enrolled in college? [if so] What helped to change them?
Conclude the interview by thanking the interviewee for their time. If the interviewee asks to see a copy of your paper, make arrangements to share it with them.
Writing up the paper: (4-6 pages, formatted in Microsoft Word or Google Docs). The paper should have three sections
Introduction: include a brief description of the interviewee and the conditions of the interview. Use only social descriptors, e.g. 22 year old African American female, not the interviewee’s name.
Presentation/Analysis: Describe and discuss your understanding of the family influences on the interviewee’s educational experiences. Identify and name the major issues and themes you discovered in your analysis of the interview and use information from your interview to support your statements. Do not simply describe the interview from start to finish, or submit a verbatim transcript of the interview. Instead, use selected excerpts to illustrate a point you want to make. You may not be able to use everything that was said in the interview. Papers submitted in a verbatim Q&A format will receive a maximum grade of C.
Conclusion: What have you learned from the interview about how the family influences education?
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