I will send it as an attachment if that's ok. I need to know if you can do it first or not.
Students will be asked to choose someone whom they either know directly or via an associate to conduct an audio interview for 45 minutes. Please select someone who is at least 20 years older than you. The permission to conduct an interview form will be provided on vUWS and it is important you explain the nature of the interview and gain consent of your interviewee before commencing the interview. This will be further discussed in class. It will be a ’semi-structured’ interview that invites your interviewee to share as much of their life story as they wish. Your role here is as a listener and observer of another’s life story, you’re not conducting this interview to provide counselling or psychotherapy. The interview approach and prompting questions will be placed on vUWS, along with further details of the assignment. Preparation for the interview will also be facilitated during tutorial discussions. Detailed Instructions Once you have listened to the recording of your interviewee’s story, please present and analyse it in the context of the concepts you have learnt to date in Self and Story. Your marker will also have listened to the interview recording, so there is no need to tell or repeat the story of your interviewee in lots of detail. However, we would like you to systematically discuss key aspects of the story and the storyteller that stood out for you - in line with the guidance provided below. 1. Please start with introducing your interviewee including their name, age, how you met them (i.e. your association or relationship to them) and where the interview took place. Susan is my neighbour and she is 71 years old. After we moved to our new neighbourhood, their house is next door from us and we often hang out in the evening having tea or coffee together. The interview was placed in her home office. 2. Give a brief overview of what aspects of life that were topics of discussion in this interview e.g. Career (work), relationships, education (school), hobbies etc. Discuss the main themes that seem central to each of the aspects of life discussed and consider why might these be important to your interviewee. What do you learn about your interviewee from what they chose to tell you? i.e. Are they someone who believes life happens to them or someone who takes control of their own life? What did you notice about your interviewee’s personality and sense of self? How have they felt about various aspects of their life? How did you come to this conclusion, i.e. how did the interviewee tell you this? (remember not to focus only on the content (words, ideas and facts) shared but the way in how the story was related or told to you, i.e. process) Please support you analysis with relevant quotes from your interviewee. 10 3. Discuss the manner of telling - consider emotions, thinking, pacing, body language, disconnection(s) and self-story presentation etc. For example, was your interviewee very expressive and emotional, did they take time to think silently, or talk really fast and appear disconnected to what they were talking about. What did their body language suggest? Did they try to engage you in conversation, continue to come back to particular topics etc. Give a sense of how much you feel the story may have been edited or given in a light to make the interviewee look good or in some other way ’edited’ in the telling (Not edited at all) . Did they present the ’best’ side of themselves (success, achievements, positive life events etc.) YES or give space to some unflattering or difficult times in their lives? Did you notice gaps in their story or potential minimisation of significant material. 4. The chosen story and connection to life-story. (The highway to heaven) Describe what connection, if any, you identified between the interviewee’s chosen ’story’ i.e. related to a book, movie or other personally meaningful story they selected (from childhood) and shared about towards the end of the interview and the ’story’ that they told you about their life (i.e. as noted in themes and life-story narrative relayed to you during the interview). 5. Incorporate how the interview material relates to relevant theory presented in your reading and lectures and tutorials to date. For example, can you identify ’the unconscious’ in action, or aspects of right or left hemisphere in action etc.? 6. Your experience as interviewer and listener. What was it like to interview and listen to your interviewee and their story? Were there moments when you had emotional responses to the story or had particular reactions towards your interviewee? Consider your own presence and behaviour during the interview and the potential effects on your interviewee. What did you notice yourself doing, thinking and feeling throughout the interview? In listening back to the interview, what additional/different things have you noticed about your responses? Marking Criteria: Assessment Criteria (Marking Rubric will be provided in vUWS): – Provides well organised summary of the interviewee’s life course identifying aspects of life that appeared to be particularly significant for your interviewee. – Includes brief but telling details of interviewee’s manner of telling her/his story (including body language, signs of emotional arousal, voice tone), as well as their words (turns of phrase and quotes). – Shows capacity to ’read between the lines’ and to notice ’gaps’ and minimisation of potentially significant material and gives thought to what this may mean. – Appropriately relates interview material to relevant theory as presented in class readings and lectures. – Displays appropriate awareness of your own behaviour during interview, and its potential effects on interviewee. – Identifies any relevant personal responses to hearing the interview, both at the time and once listening back. – Ability to integrate the assessment requirements in a clear and relevant manner. – Accurate and relevant referencing (APA Style).