47.361 Developmental Psychopathology

Interview Project

Interview.

For this project you must interview someone who (a) currently has a disability of childhood or adolescence, (b) had a disability during childhood or adolescence but is now an adult who may or may not continue to have the disability, (c) the parent of a child or adolescent with a disability, or (d) an individual whose primary work is with children or adolescents who have disabilities.  Please limit the disability to one of those we have studied in this course.  Make sure you have parental permission to talk to individuals under 18, and that those individuals provide their assent to the interview as well.

Tape record your interview session if your interviewee gives you permission.  You’re your interviewee that the tape will be destroyed as soon as you have written down the conversation.  Immediately after the interview, you should transcribe the tape—writing down questions and answers verbatim, and then erase the tape. 

If your interviewee would rather you not tape the session, take notes as carefully as you can. You want to write down as much as possible without disturbing the flow of the interview.

It is best to do the interviews face to face if you can, but you can conduct the interview by phone if that is the best option for you and your interviewee.

When you transcribe the tape, be sure to eliminate any identifiable characteristics.  Use a false name for the interviewee.  Do not identify the town he or she lives in, but describe it  (upper middle class suburb, poor urban area, etc).

Review the materials on our website for guidance in how to conduct the interview.

Paper.

After completing the interview, assembling your notes, or transcribing the tape, take some time to think about what you heard.  Refer to our class materials on that topic.  Now write an analysis that includes at least four references to the literature.  Only one may be to the text itself.  Others should be to articles in professional journals.  These might be items we have discussed in class, or even articles that your book leads you to find.  Do not rely on google or other general search engines or refer to anything other than peer reviewed journal publications.  Unlike your research review, these can be theoretical or review articles; you are not limited to empirical journal articles.  If you are interviewing an individual who is connected to the disability area you addressed in your research review, you may use those articles to integrate into the interview paper.  Use APA citation style in your paper.

The point is to explore the extent to which an individual’s experience exemplifies or differs from the literature.  Use the articles to which you refer to as a source of information give the interview context.

Your analysis (i.e., your paper) should include three basic sections:  summary, integration of research, reflection and conclusion.  The summary should give a thorough idea of what you heard in your interview, the integration of research is where you draw comparisons with the literature, and your final reflection and conclusion section should bring in your own thoughts and responses.

Presentations

Everyone will make a brief presentation in class during the final week (see schedule).  Each presentation should be 3-5 minutes in length, and consist of a summary of what you learned from the individual you interviewed.  Give a quick synopsis of relevant background information (e.g., age, family configuration, school/work, diagnosis).  Then go on to things the person said that either reinforce what we learned in class or offered some new information to you.  It is a quick, informal, but informative presentation.  No PowerPoint or posters--or even standing in front of class.  To respect confidentiality, do not use any identifying information in your presentation.  Use a false name for the interviewee. 
 

Guidelines for Conducting Interviews

Children.  Hi NAME.  I asked your mom if I could talk to you about your DISABILITY because I am taking a class in understanding what DISABILITY is like.  Is it okay if we talk about it?  Can I run my tape recorder while we talk so I don’t forget anything you say?

Proceed with the interview:

1.       Ask background information to begin.  How old, where goes to school, who friends are, what likes to do best. 

2.       Now can you tell me about DISABILITY.  What does that mean?  (or How would you know if someone had it?)

a.       How old were you when it started?

b.       Does it bother you?  If so, when?

c.       What kinds of things do you think are harder for you because of DISABILITY? Explore:

                                                              i.      How about at home? (siblings, parents)

                                                             ii.      What about at school?

                                                            iii.      Other (sports, playing, job)

d.       Do you get any help for your DISABILITY?  Explore:

                                                              i.      School services

                                                             ii.      Doctors or therapists

                                                            iii.      Medications

                                                            iv.      What is the most helpful thing people can do?

3.       What do you want to do when you grow up? How do you think your DISABILITY will affect that?

4.       What do you wish people understood about DISABILITY? 

5.       What else should I know?

For adults.  Modify the questions above depending on whether the person still has the disability or not. 

For Parents.   Modify the questions to ask about “your child” instead of “you.”  Ask about parents’ understanding of disability and also about child’s.  For example, When did you first find out? AND When did your child first find out? (or Does you child know that he or she has…). 

For Workers.   Ask about what they do, what training their job requires, what approaches they find most useful with whatever disabilities they work, what they find rewarding and frustrating, what they wished people understood about their job, and what advice they would give to a young person who wanted to follow their career path.

Remember:  You may add questions to explore these areas, but do NOT ask any potentially embarrassing questions or push your interviewee to answer anything he or she would rather not.

If the interviewee would like a copy of your paper, you should be prepared to give it to him or her.  Remember that as you write and stick to the facts. Try not to overinterpret what your interviewee tells you.

Always end with a huge THANK YOU