Introductory Sociology
Final Assignment – Research Interview Assignment
Assignment Guidelines
Interview someone (a friend or acquaintance, but preferably
not a family member) about his or her understanding of one critical
sociological concept. Then, compose a 6 – 8 page, paper describing and
analyzing what this person told you based upon the ideas, concepts and facts we
have covered in class.
The goal of this exercise is to test your understanding of
one of the critical theoretical concepts presented in this course by having you
analyze how someone who is not an expert on these topics understands them.
Critical concepts include class, culture, race, gender and social reproduction,
social change, and deviance.
All papers (including
interview questions) are due, in class, on Friday, April 4, 2014.
Directions and Suggestions:
Choosing a Subject: First, you will need to find someone who
will agree to talk with you about his or her attitudes about and experiences
with your selected topic (e.g., class, gender, culture, race, or deviance). It
doesn’t matter whether this person’s views and experiences are typical or
exceptional, only that they are willing to talk with you about them. Tell them
the conversation will last no more than an hour and that you will not disclose
their identity in your project.
Preparing for the Interview: Second, you will need to prepare
for the interview by figuring out what topics you want to cover and how you
will get your interviewee to start talking about them. Some of the themes you
might want to cover include: how they characterize their own background, how
typical they think their experience is (and in relation to whom); how they
think a person’s class, for example, is determined or decided, how important is
race, for example, in Canada. There will probably be other topics you want to
raise as well. Some of these topics may be best posed as direct questions.
Others, however, might require you to be more creative.
Conducting the Interview: As you conduct your interview, keep
two points in mind. The first is to let the exchange develop or flow as
naturally as possible, as a kind of focused-conversation. Don’t worry if topics
come up in a different order than you planned or if your respondent is unable
or unwilling to answer some of your questions. Just try to make sure that all
the points you want to cover are touched on in one way or the other. The second
point is to take careful notes during the interview. If your interviewee is
willing, you might even consider tape-recording it. You will need to refer back
to these records during the course of writing up your analysis (especially if
you use direct quotes in your writing) and have them available in case there
are any later questions about your project.
Writing the Analysis: The final step in the process is writing
up a brief description and analysis of your findings. The most important thing
here is that the paper should not be just a report of what your respondent
said, but rather an analysis of how your respondent understood your topic (that
is, class, gender, deviance, race, or culture). Your goal, in other words, is
to make some kind of an argument about your respondent’s views, comparing and
contrasting them to what you have learned in class. Relevant concerns for class
might include: statistics about income inequality and social mobility,
different definitions of class, and concepts such as social reproduction and
achievement ideology. Also, keep in mind that what your respondent didn’t
discuss might be as revealing as what she or he did discuss.
Assessment: I will grade your essay based upon (1) the clarity
of your presentation of your respondent’s views; (2) the insightfulness of your
general analysis of these views, and (3) your usage of ideas and examples from
class to frame and develop your argument (4) the quality of your interview
questions. A detailed grading rubric is attached to the assignment and posted
on Web CT.
Final Thoughts: Use a pseudonym (a made-up name) to protect the
privacy of your interviewee. Please do not hesitate to consult with me if you
have any problems or questions with this assignment.
Introductory Sociology
Assignment 2 – Research Interview
Assessment Rubric
(80 – 100%)
- Content is well
researched and contains all required information
- Expresses and organizes
ideas and information with a high degree of effectiveness
- Uses subject specific
vocabulary, and terminology with a high degree of effectiveness
- Demonstrates a thorough
knowledge and/or understanding of concept
- Highly detailed and
accurate analysis of interview findings
- Uses appropriate and
consistent academic referencing including publisher, volume
- Variety of question
types were used
- Questions were clear,
creative, logically sequenced and on-topic
- Almost no errors in
conventions (e.g., grammar spelling, punctuation)
(70 – 79%)
- Content is adequately
researched and contains most of the required information
- Expresses and organizes
ideas and information with considerable effectiveness
- Uses subject specific
vocabulary, and terminology with considerable effectiveness
- Demonstrates
considerable knowledge and/or understanding of concept
- Detailed and mostly
accurate analysis of interview findings
- Usually uses
appropriate academic referencing
- Questions were clear,
logically sequenced, and appropriate to the concept
- Few minor errors in
conventions (e.g., grammar spelling, punctuation)
(60 – 69%)
- Content is partially
researched and contains some of the required information
- Expresses and organizes
ideas and information with some effectiveness (some parts have to be
reread to clarify ideas)
- Uses subject specific
vocabulary, and terminology with some effectiveness
- Demonstrates some
knowledge and/or understanding of concept
- Somewhat detailed
analysis of interview findings that may have minor errors
- Interview questions
were mostly clear, some were logically sequenced and usually appropriate
- Attempts to cite some
resources
(50 – 59%)
- Content is
superficially researched and contains only basic information
- Expresses and organizes
information with limited effectiveness
- Uses subject specific
vocabulary and terminology with limited effectiveness
- Demonstrates limited
knowledge and/or understanding of concept
- Limited or incomplete
analysis of interview findings
- Interview questions
were unclear, randomly sequenced and related to the topic
- Resources are not cited
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