11.9 More on interviews and what to expect for the Research Essay assignment

We concluded our discussion of interviewing & did an exercise to explore interviewing techniques.

Important questions to review as you think about interviewing include:
What are the different types of interviews you might design in terms of number of participants, the interview setting, kinds of questions, and power dynamics?

What factors influence power dynamics in different interview types, and how do power dynamics affect the kinds of data available through interviewing?

What are the differences between traditional (author) interviews and the kinds of interviews used for research in English studies?

What are "active" interviews and how do they differ from interviews where the interviewer strives to remain neutral + objective?  What kind of information is gathered through each approach?

Research project essay:
Your final essay for this course is a reflective analysis on a research method for a project of your choice.  I will post the assignment sheet by Monday - and we will talk a little more about the requirements at that time.

For Monday:

Read:  "I didn't do anything important," The Oral History Review 36.1 2009, available through Kean University data bases.

Blog 16:  Post a description of a research project you want to do.  Describe what you want to study in general - and what questions you will ask in particular.  Describe where, what (who), how & why you want to study.  If you are nor sure => put some possibilities out there.