One of the best ways to learn about development is through interviews. Though children can be interviewed with parental or guardian permission, for this assignment you will need to interview a parent or guardian that has a child or children that have reached at least 12 years of age.
Outcomes:
- To develop objectivity in collecting data, as required by the scientific method.
- To learn how to listen: respecting and understanding, without judging, the experiences, ideas, and attitudes of others.
- To learn how to take quick notes while paying attention.
- To learn how to organize the data collected in a logical and coherent manner to present a well-written report.
- To interpret and analyze aspects of the data as they relate to topics studied in class and relate to Chapters 3-7 (Infancy through Middle Childhood).
Part A-Design 10 Interview Questions: A well-constructed questionnaire serves as a point of reference during an interview. The key is designing the questions to be open-ended and neutral, unbiased, or non-judgmental. Your goal is to encourage the interviewee to speak openly without thinking about what you, the interviewer, might think. All ten of these questions should be both:
- Open-ended Questions: These encourage the interviewee to speak at length and openly. Avoid questions that prompt short few word answers or a simple yes or no answer.
Open-ended question example: “How would you describe your parenting style?”
- Non-judgmental, unbiased, neutral questions: These encourage the interviewee to speak truthfully, since the person does not detect the interviewer’s opinions or experiences. The topic of the question is universal, every parent/guardian would have a response to the question.
Unbiased, non-judgmental question example: “Tell me something about your feelings after your child
went to school.”
Assignment Submission:
For this assignment, you will submit in Canvas a typed submission (Word or pdf file) consisting of 10 open-ended and unbiased questions to ask an interviewee about their child. Keep in mind, this means you should already have in mind a parent/guardian you are planning on interviewing that has a child that has reached at least 12 years of age. These questions should relate specifically to development before the age of 12. A good idea would be to skim the headings in Chapters 3-7 to help get an idea of what kind of topics to ask about (10 points).
