PSYCH 412: THE INTERVIEW PAPER OUTLINE
Overview
Your interview paper is a gathering of three interviews from individuals representing various age cohorts. The purpose of the project is to expose you to various individual experiences to adolescence based on age as well as compare and contrast these perspectives with your knowledge of adolescence and personal experiences.
Your paper will contain 3 entries with each entry consisting of 3 main concepts from a single section from class. Thus, you’ll have a total of 9 concepts (3 per section) for the entire project. Each concept chosen should represent a distinct element of the section. For example, if you were to choose Peers (Section 5) you could select popularity, crowds, and cliques as your 3 concepts.
All Possible Sections:
Section 1: Biological Transitions (Lesson 2 and 3 material)
Section 2: Cognitive Transitions (Lesson 4 and 5 material)
Section 3: Social Transitions (Lesson 6 material)
Section 4: Families (Lesson 7 material)
Section 5: Peers (Lesson 8 material)
Section 6: Schools (Lesson 9 and 10 material)
Section 7: Adolescent Work and Leisure (Lesson 11 and 12 materials)
Section 8: Intimacy and Sexuality (Lesson 13 and 14 materials)
Section 9: Psychosocial Problems (Lesson 15 material)
The Interviewees
You must select 3 people to interview for the project from any of the following age categories. All three individuals must be from separate age categories and all interviewees must be at least 5 years apart in age from one another. Please note that you cannot select yourself as one of your interviews. All three interviewees cannot be of the same gender. The goal of these requirements is to increase the likelihood of greater variation in reports.
Age Groups
1. 12-18 yrs
2. 19-30 yrs
3. 31-50 yrs
4. 51-70 yrs
5. 71+ yrs
You are requested to inform each interviewee of the nature of the project prior to the interview (if you are interviewing an individual under the age of 18, you should also inform their parent as well). They should also be told that they have the right to object and not answer a particular question or stop the interview at any time if they feel uncomfortable (if this happens to you, please be ready to interview another person to replace the lost session). Finally, in the body of your entries, you should refer to the individuals by their first name or an alias only. Please do not include their full name in your entry.
The Interview Questions
The interview itself is to be of a semi-structured design. Thus, you’ll have a series of particular questions to ask your interviewees ahead of time, but be prepared to be spontaneous and ask follow-up questions on topics or responses that particular pique your interest. Additionally, make sure that your questions are geared to their adolescent experience and not another time period, such as childhood or middle adulthood. You’ll need to generate, at a minimum, 4 questions per concept. I tend to suggest you ask more than 4 (if possible) in case some of your questions don’t field good responses from your interviewees for the paper. For example, if you had chosen popularity as one of your concepts from the Peer section, you’ll need to outline at least four questions to ask each interviewee concerning their experiences and popularity. If you’re doing the math, this means you’ll have at least a total of 36 questions to ask for each interview. Please note you are asking the same set of 36 items to all three interviewees. This allows you to complete the comparing and contrasting requirement of each entry.
Time Management of the Interview
I would suggest allotting at least 1 hour per interview, as this would give you somewhere between 1-2 minutes per question. To help speed up the interview session you may wish to ask to tape-record or video tape the interview to review later.
Time Management of the Paper
As this is a large project, you want to manage your time properly across the semester so you don’t end up having to rush and complete a majority of the assignment at the last minute. Remember this project can essentially be seen as a final exam paper that you’re completing during the entire course of the semester. Thus, I would strongly suggest putting together an outline of goals corresponding with the paper to keep you on task. Think about what you’d like to accomplish each week so you don’t end up getting behind on your work. To help in doing so, there will be two time management assignments during the semester related to this comprehensive paper as well.
The Entries
Each entry is designed to reflect your ability to compare and contrast the three interviewees’ responses to your questions as well as integrating formal information on the concepts. Therefore, you’ll want to make sure to research the concepts in detail, generating a reference list of potential sources of information for each concept. You are required to include a minimum of 12 independent references (total) from peer-reviewed sources (such as articles or texts). Further instructions for the entries are located on the entry outline page. Looking up research on particular concepts can also help you generate questions if you are stuck. Investigate the types of relationships the researchers have done on the concept and think how this may fit into a question for your interviewees. You’d also have the added benefit of already having at least one peer reviewed paper to tie into the discussion on that concept.
Gathering Additional Resources for Entries
As stated previously, your entries will require that you incorporate factual elements of your concepts into your writing. Thus, you’ll need to gather appropriate resources (i.e. peer reviewed) that outline your concepts. One method of gathering appropriate information is to perform a literature search in journals on the concepts. Luckily, as a student of Penn State you have access to an extensive listing of journals online, which
you can review, save, and print all from the comfort of your own home even at 3am in the morning. Here is a list of some journals (there are more) related to adolescence that I know you can access online through the CAT link on the library webpage:
1. Journal of Adolescence
2. Adolescence
3. Journal of Adolescent Health
4. Journal of Early Adolescence
5. Journal of Research on Adolescence
6. Journal of Youth and Adolescence
7. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development
8. Child Development
9. Youth and Society
Late Penalty: Please note that you are expected to email a copy of your interview project by 11:59 PM on the due date. You may turn in the project early if it better suites your personal schedule. However, as you have had almost the entire semester to work on the project, you are expected to manage your time appropriately. Thus, unexcused late papers will only be accepted for two days after the listed due date with an automatic deduction of 15 points for each day late.
The next section of this outline will include a review of the paper’s components including:
1. The Interview Checklist: a quick and rough checks and balances cover sheet/title page to be included in your paper
2. The Interview Introduction: which contains a quick snapshot of your interviewees (the interviewee general information), reasons for selecting your concepts and sections, as well as an overview reflection on the entire project.
3. Entry Descriptions: This is the main outline of requirements for each entry. Thus, you’ll have three of these completed in your final paper.
4. Interview Rubric: A general outline of the grading rubric for the paper. Note that the greatest weight is in the application section
As a final note, it may be helpful to review the “mock” interview paper online. While this example doesn’t contain written paragraphs on topics, it does provide a model of how to structure the overall paper.
