Conducting Interviews for a Sociology Project Up to 2,000 words. (The longer length is because you have to provide the interview questions that you ask your respondents.)
Saved as either .doc or .docx ONLY.
You have three options for your research project. For each option, I have provided the following:
Research question (this is the guiding question of your project, not the interview question)
Example interview question and follow-up probes
Conducting Interviews for a Sociology Project Educational Decisions
Research Question: How do people make decisions about post-secondary education? (NOTE: This question is the object of your research project; it is not the question that you will ask your interviewees.)
Example Interview Question:
How did you decide whether or not to attend university?
PROBE: What role did your family have in making that decision?
PROBE: What role did your teachers have in making your decision?
RELIGION
Research Question: What roles does religion play in people’s lives?
(NOTE: This question is the object of your research project; it is not the question that you will ask your interviewees.)
Conducting Interviews for a Sociology Project and an Example Interview Question:
Can you tell me about how religion is a part of your life?
PROBE IF RELIGION IS A PART: What benefits do you feel like you get from your religion? What challenges does your religion present to you?
PROBE IF RELIGION IS NOT A PART: What benefits do you feel like you get from not practicing a religion? What challenges does not practicing a religion present to you?
ROLE CONFLICT
Research Question: How do university students manage role conflict?
(NOTE: This question is the object of your research project; it is not the question that you will ask your interviewees.)
Example Interview Question:
We all have different roles that we play – for example, student, child, worker, sibling. Can you tell me about a time when you felt like two or more of those roles were in conflict?
PROBE: How did you feel about the conflict?
PROBE: How did you decide what to do?
PROJECT PROCEDURES AND REQUIREMENTS
As this is research with human subjects, we are required to comply with all ethical regulations. I have applied for and received our ethics approval for the project. Before conducting any interviews, you must:
Read the attached informed consent form and fill out the parts highlighted in yellow.
Choose at least two interviewees. You must know the people personally – either friends or relatives. Your participants must be at least 18 years old. The terms of our ethics approval do not allow for you to approach and interview strangers.
Tell your prospective interviewees that you are conducting interviews for a sociology project, tell them the topic, and ask whether they might be willing to participate. If they agree to participate, set up a time for your interview. At each interview you must:
bring two copies of the informed consent form.
ask your participant to read the informed consent form.
answer any questions they have.
have your participant sign and date the form if they agree to participate
provide your own signature and date.
keep the signed original.
offer the participant a copy of the form for their records.
When you submit your assignment you are required to append the signed forms to your assignment either as scanned copies or as photos.
If you do not follow the ethical regulations for work with human subjects you will receive an automatic zero on the assignment and will be reported as having committed an academic offence.
Conduct your interviews!
Your ethics approval does not allow you to make recordings. Be sure to take good notes.
You must begin with the interview questions and probes provided. You are welcome to ask participants for additional clarification or elaboration, or to ask other questions that come up naturally as a part of the interview.
Prepare to write your report:
Review your interview notes and think about how they relate to one or more concepts that we have covered (or will cover) this term.
Brainstorm a list of examples from your interviews that relate to the concepts you chose.
Make an outline, diagram, or mind-map – whichever helps you think the best – to guide you through the process of writing the report.
Complete your report using the format on the next page.
Conducting Interviews for a Sociology Project Report Format
Introduction:
In sociology, this is where we briefly discuss what we studied, how we studied it, and what our findings were. No more than a paragraph.
Research question and methods:
State which research question you chose to address. (You do not need to cite or use quotation marks for the research question.)
Explain who your participants were. Indicate their gender, approximate age, race/ethnicity, and any other pertinent demographic characteristics. You must use pseudonyms for your participants and not give away any specific details that would reveal their identity.
Describe where you conducted your interviews.
List the questions that you asked your participants.
Conducting Interviews for a Sociology Project Findings
Discuss how the responses to your interview questions address your research question.
Relate your data (the answers to your interview questions) to at least one sociological concept or theory from class this term.
Use specific examples from your interviews as illustrations of the concept/theory. If you use a direct quote from an interviewee, indicate in parentheses afterward the pseudonym of the interviewee who said it. You do not need to list your interviewees in the reference list.
If you noted differences in the responses between your interviewees, comment on why (sociologically) that might be the case.
Conducting Interviews for a Sociology Project Conclusion
Describe the most interesting or useful things that you learned from conducting your interviews.
If you were going to continue doing this research, what further questions would you like to ask and/or what other types of people would you want to interview?
Reference List: Complete citations for any works that you referred to in your assignment, formatted in ASA style. (not included in word count)
Academic Integrity Checklist: This checklist helps you review your work to ensure that you complied with all of the requirements for academic integrity. Copy and paste this completed checklist as the last page of your document. Your typed name at the bottom of the list serves as your signature.
CITATIONS: As always, you MUST properly cite any sources that you use. Please review the handouts posted on Blackboard under “Academic Integrity Resources” about how to avoid plagiarism and how to paraphrase. Please use ASA (American Sociological Association) style.
When you paraphrase (restating in your own words), you must:
Include an in-text citation with name of author AND year of publication.
Include a full citation of the source in the reference list.
When you use a direct quote (the author’s exact words), you must:
Include an in-text citation with the name of author AND year of publication.
Include the page number on which the original material appears. (This is a common error!)
Use quotation marks around the words.
Include a full citation of the source in the reference list.
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