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Tuesday, January 15, 2013
March 12...Relating the Mini-interviews to the Theory
Think
about your mini-interviews.Can you see
any ways in which the theory we read illuminates your participant's comments?
Are there any ways in which your participant's comments contradict the theory
we have read?Any surprises?
Overall, I think the interview went pretty well. We actually had to end up doing it a second time since the first time, the recording wasn’t very loud. But for both times that we did the interview, we ended up talking longer than I thought we would. Both interviews went fairly smoothly, but the second interview lasted almost twice as long, which was nice. Throughout the interview, the conversation felt really natural, and not forced or artificial. My friend wants to become a teacher, so she had a lot to say about this topic. For the most part, I think I did a good job with listening and just letting her do most of the talking. Sometimes, I felt a little awkward asking the questions, but I think I managed to get a lot of her opinions out of her. Maybe I could have done a better job phrasing some of my questions, but having a good idea about what I wanted to ask her really helped get the interview going. I tried my best to come up with probes, and I think I did a fairly decent job with that, seeing how long my friend and I were able to talk. Also, at certain points, some questions came up spontaneously as I was listening to her. I think since we are such good friends, we both felt fairly relaxed talking to each other, and I have a feeling it will be the same way when I meet up with my teacher. I think one of the hardest parts of the interview was actually recording it. Since I was recording it on my computer, my friend and I really had to try our best to speak up. And for me especially, since I am normally a soft-spoken person, I have to really be conscious about this. Overall, I thought this was a pretty good experience, and I hope my interview with my teacher goes just as smoothly.
I think that my interview went pretty smooth for the most part. I chose to interview my boyfriend so we were both comfortable and I don’t think that any of the questions or his responses were forced at all. He is a fervent socialist and a firm believer in Marxist-Leninism, so he was pretty on top of his social analysis of schooling. He brought in a lot of the things we’ve talked about in class on his own such as inequalities in education based on social class and zip code divisions. However, He did tend to get a bit rant-ish at times so I had to reiterate the focus on education a bit in the interview. I expected this and prepared for it seeing as though this is something he does quite often. I was able to weave in some of Labaree’s theory without directly mentioning it when we started talking about using education for the sake of seeking a profitable job. He is strongly against using education as a private good because of how it creates narrow minded people. Instead, he suggests that education be primarily used so that people can value themselves and take pride in their jobs, rather than have their life be devalued by how careers are “ranked” in society, (ex: why isn’t a sewage worker valued just as much as a doctor when both are needed to keep the public functioning). He stated self-value by career, which would be provided by a good education, as one of his main goals of schooling- where the “better” careers would be determined by how much they contribute to other people. In this sense, people would ideally take pride in how much they contribute to society, not how much they earn. If I could do something differently about the interview, I would have tried to branch into subject areas that he wasn’t as familiar with. His analysis of education tended to stick to looking at it solely by class instead of other dimensions of race and gender, and hardly talked about the role of teachers.
I went into the interview a little nervous (even with one of my closest friends), mostly because I always find it difficult to articulate thoughts well when I speak. In spite of this, I think the interview went rather smoothly, and I was even able to ask a couple of follow-up questions I was loosely thinking about before the interview. However, I definitely still found a number of things challenging. First of all, and I think this is the case in most normal conversation settings, when a question is asked often the respondent will take parts of what was asked and respond directly, but just as often their answer does not directly relate to the question, which is fine. But as an interviewer in this setting, I found it really challenging to shake the feeling that I needed direct answers to the questions. I think I may feel this way partially because from my experience in this class, I am almost looking for certain answers, which I cannot expect to come from someone who does not have the same perspective/knowledge I have. Even though I was able to ask some follow up questions, I still find the task challenging. This is probably because I have trouble coming up with quick responses to what was said without a chance to think about it first.
One thing I want to do differently when I do the real interview is to be a little more prepared with possible follow-up questions or probes to ask my participant. I think if I do that I will feel more prepared and will be less likely to use “likes” and “um’s” when I am speaking. I will also try to work on allowing myself a small pause after my interviewee stops speaking so I can gather my response more coherently. Finally, I think I should keep in mind that I should worry less about what is said in the moment of the interview because later I will have a chance to go back through the material and analyze it.
Throughout my interview, I was able to see theory that we read in class conveyed in my friend David’s ideas about education. He tended to promote ideas that contribute to the social mobility concept that we read in class. David believed that education was a commodity that we use to find better jobs and advance ourselves in our respective fields. David did not completely contradict himself in the interview however he did in fact change the theory he believed due to certain questions that were proposed. Whenever I brought up a topic with the theme of social betterment he was quickly ready to cast aside his beliefs that school was a commodity and that it could in fact be used to better society as a whole. This was interesting and rightfully noted. What surprised me during this interview was how off topic the interview could get and many times I questioned how related my follow up questions were. This is something I must work on. David also would sometimes have a hard time elaborating on certain questions to the point that it was hard to relate it to anything I learned in class. Thus, I had to try really hard to find follow up question that would lead him to answers that fit into the models that we are learning in class. At the same time whenever I did that I felt like I was steering the answers David gave me to fit what we learned in class. It was interesting.
It was a little tough articulating the "ideal" interview because I think I got too caught up in asking the right questions. When in reality the focus should be on the answers given and using those answers as stepping stones. I chose to interview a friend of mine, who happens to be very strong-footed about his beliefs, and it turned out that we both agreed on the notion of progressive education and how schooling shouldn't be synonymous with salaries. As the interviewer, I was determined to not influence the subject by asking open-ended questions but making sure they revolved around the subject. It was interesting seeing how similar our views were.
There were no surprises during the interview. I interviewed my brother so I pretty much knew where he stood when it came to education. He saw public schools as a foundation to acquiring a degree and henceforth a career in the future. So he saw public schools as a place to acquire credentials to impress universities and colleges. The credentials were acquired because universities wanted the students to have them. For instance, volunteering or joining clubs. Many students wouldn’t bother doing some of the extracurricular activities if the universities didn’t look at them. So my brother saw the credentials as a way to standout from other applicants but not necessarily to make oneself more rounded as schools would hope.
The most surprising thing about my interview was the amount of interest generated by the person I chose, my roommate, about our project. The idea of schools being used to socialize students was brought up, as well as the creation of productive citizens. Personal betterment was also brought up.
In my mini interview with my suitemate, he had lots to say and I didn't have to ask too many follow up questions but when I did his responses were exactly what I was looking for. I think it really helped me develop my questions and how to transition from topic to topic.
I ended up interviewing my cousin who is a substitute teacher in the same school system as me. She basically answered the questions in a Labree fashion; however, she didn’t go in deep detail, and that is where I struggled. I ended up asking all kinds of follow-up questions, but none were strong enough to bring out more detail of what she was explaining. The questions made her repeat herself for most of the interview, so it did not last long at all. This was good practice for me and I am sure for everyone else as well, because it lets you know how you can improve yourself to make the real interview successful.
Overall, I think the interview went pretty well. We actually had to end up doing it a second time since the first time, the recording wasn’t very loud. But for both times that we did the interview, we ended up talking longer than I thought we would. Both interviews went fairly smoothly, but the second interview lasted almost twice as long, which was nice. Throughout the interview, the conversation felt really natural, and not forced or artificial. My friend wants to become a teacher, so she had a lot to say about this topic. For the most part, I think I did a good job with listening and just letting her do most of the talking. Sometimes, I felt a little awkward asking the questions, but I think I managed to get a lot of her opinions out of her. Maybe I could have done a better job phrasing some of my questions, but having a good idea about what I wanted to ask her really helped get the interview going. I tried my best to come up with probes, and I think I did a fairly decent job with that, seeing how long my friend and I were able to talk. Also, at certain points, some questions came up spontaneously as I was listening to her. I think since we are such good friends, we both felt fairly relaxed talking to each other, and I have a feeling it will be the same way when I meet up with my teacher. I think one of the hardest parts of the interview was actually recording it. Since I was recording it on my computer, my friend and I really had to try our best to speak up. And for me especially, since I am normally a soft-spoken person, I have to really be conscious about this. Overall, I thought this was a pretty good experience, and I hope my interview with my teacher goes just as smoothly.
ReplyDeleteNavami Ravindra
I think that my interview went pretty smooth for the most part. I chose to interview my boyfriend so we were both comfortable and I don’t think that any of the questions or his responses were forced at all. He is a fervent socialist and a firm believer in Marxist-Leninism, so he was pretty on top of his social analysis of schooling. He brought in a lot of the things we’ve talked about in class on his own such as inequalities in education based on social class and zip code divisions.
ReplyDeleteHowever, He did tend to get a bit rant-ish at times so I had to reiterate the focus on education a bit in the interview. I expected this and prepared for it seeing as though this is something he does quite often.
I was able to weave in some of Labaree’s theory without directly mentioning it when we started talking about using education for the sake of seeking a profitable job. He is strongly against using education as a private good because of how it creates narrow minded people. Instead, he suggests that education be primarily used so that people can value themselves and take pride in their jobs, rather than have their life be devalued by how careers are “ranked” in society, (ex: why isn’t a sewage worker valued just as much as a doctor when both are needed to keep the public functioning). He stated self-value by career, which would be provided by a good education, as one of his main goals of schooling- where the “better” careers would be determined by how much they contribute to other people. In this sense, people would ideally take pride in how much they contribute to society, not how much they earn.
If I could do something differently about the interview, I would have tried to branch into subject areas that he wasn’t as familiar with. His analysis of education tended to stick to looking at it solely by class instead of other dimensions of race and gender, and hardly talked about the role of teachers.
Katie Ketcham
I went into the interview a little nervous (even with one of my closest friends), mostly because I always find it difficult to articulate thoughts well when I speak. In spite of this, I think the interview went rather smoothly, and I was even able to ask a couple of follow-up questions I was loosely thinking about before the interview. However, I definitely still found a number of things challenging. First of all, and I think this is the case in most normal conversation settings, when a question is asked often the respondent will take parts of what was asked and respond directly, but just as often their answer does not directly relate to the question, which is fine. But as an interviewer in this setting, I found it really challenging to shake the feeling that I needed direct answers to the questions. I think I may feel this way partially because from my experience in this class, I am almost looking for certain answers, which I cannot expect to come from someone who does not have the same perspective/knowledge I have. Even though I was able to ask some follow up questions, I still find the task challenging. This is probably because I have trouble coming up with quick responses to what was said without a chance to think about it first.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I want to do differently when I do the real interview is to be a little more prepared with possible follow-up questions or probes to ask my participant. I think if I do that I will feel more prepared and will be less likely to use “likes” and “um’s” when I am speaking. I will also try to work on allowing myself a small pause after my interviewee stops speaking so I can gather my response more coherently. Finally, I think I should keep in mind that I should worry less about what is said in the moment of the interview because later I will have a chance to go back through the material and analyze it.
Laura Zoellner
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThroughout my interview, I was able to see theory that we read in class conveyed in my friend David’s ideas about education. He tended to promote ideas that contribute to the social mobility concept that we read in class. David believed that education was a commodity that we use to find better jobs and advance ourselves in our respective fields. David did not completely contradict himself in the interview however he did in fact change the theory he believed due to certain questions that were proposed. Whenever I brought up a topic with the theme of social betterment he was quickly ready to cast aside his beliefs that school was a commodity and that it could in fact be used to better society as a whole. This was interesting and rightfully noted. What surprised me during this interview was how off topic the interview could get and many times I questioned how related my follow up questions were. This is something I must work on. David also would sometimes have a hard time elaborating on certain questions to the point that it was hard to relate it to anything I learned in class. Thus, I had to try really hard to find follow up question that would lead him to answers that fit into the models that we are learning in class. At the same time whenever I did that I felt like I was steering the answers David gave me to fit what we learned in class. It was interesting.
ReplyDeleteBrandon Henton
It was a little tough articulating the "ideal" interview because I think I got too caught up in asking the right questions. When in reality the focus should be on the answers given and using those answers as stepping stones. I chose to interview a friend of mine, who happens to be very strong-footed about his beliefs, and it turned out that we both agreed on the notion of progressive education and how schooling shouldn't be synonymous with salaries. As the interviewer, I was determined to not influence the subject by asking open-ended questions but making sure they revolved around the subject. It was interesting seeing how similar our views were.
ReplyDeleteThere were no surprises during the interview. I interviewed my brother so I pretty much knew where he stood when it came to education. He saw public schools as a foundation to acquiring a degree and henceforth a career in the future. So he saw public schools as a place to acquire credentials to impress universities and colleges.
ReplyDeleteThe credentials were acquired because universities wanted the students to have them. For instance, volunteering or joining clubs. Many students wouldn’t bother doing some of the extracurricular activities if the universities didn’t look at them. So my brother saw the credentials as a way to standout from other applicants but not necessarily to make oneself more rounded as schools would hope.
Faisal Ali
The most surprising thing about my interview was the amount of interest generated by the person I chose, my roommate, about our project. The idea of schools being used to socialize students was brought up, as well as the creation of productive citizens. Personal betterment was also brought up.
ReplyDelete-sarah meier
DeleteIn my mini interview with my suitemate, he had lots to say and I didn't have to ask too many follow up questions but when I did his responses were exactly what I was looking for. I think it really helped me develop my questions and how to transition from topic to topic.
ReplyDeleteCraig Luskey
I ended up interviewing my cousin who is a substitute teacher in the same school system as me. She basically answered the questions in a Labree fashion; however, she didn’t go in deep detail, and that is where I struggled. I ended up asking all kinds of follow-up questions, but none were strong enough to bring out more detail of what she was explaining. The questions made her repeat herself for most of the interview, so it did not last long at all. This was good practice for me and I am sure for everyone else as well, because it lets you know how you can improve yourself to make the real interview successful.
ReplyDeleteArielle Preston