What is your history? What is your home of origin? Why did you/your family settle in _____?

SWK 3375 Assignment:

Interview of Someone Different

15 points

 

 

READ THE ANNOUNCEMENT SECTION EVERYDAY.

THIS IS WHERE I PLACE TIPS AND INFORMATION FOR ASSIGNMENTS FOR THIS COURSE

 

 

Culture definition.

The sum of attitudes, customs, and beliefs that distinguishes one group of people from another. Culture is transmitted, through language, material objects, ritual, institutions, and art, from one generation to the next. www.dictionary.com/browse/culture

 

Purpose

The purpose of this assignment is to gain an understanding of a different culture from your own.  You will have a meaningful conversation with someone that is different from you. Your goal is to learn about his or her home culture, and to learn about his or her experiences in regard to your culture or the mainstream U.S. culture.

 

Acceptable Differences

Race, Culture, Sexual Orientation and Disability. Age will only count if the person you want to interview is 85 years and above. Make sure that this age difference is captured in the interviewee’s story.  Biological sex difference will not count for this assignment. Please e-mail me if you need clarification.

 

What you do

 Find someone who is different along any one of the dimensions noted above and is willing to talk with you for at least 20 minutes. Your informant may be a friend, acquaintance, or a relative as long as he or she is not being interviewed by someone else in this class. You may use a pseudonym (false name) for the person you interview to safeguard their privacy.

 

Format

After the interview, write a 3 to 5-page (double-spaced), APA paper based on the interview and covering the areas indicated below.

 

1. Background information on interviewee e.g. gender, age etc. (2 points)
2. Summary of Interviewee’s story. (2 points)

 

When you are addressing this section think about the challenges that your selected person may have faced. Did they assimilate into main stream culture, or did they try to maintain their culture? Were they judged, met with resistance, had feelings of sub, or stereotyped, discriminated against, or feel unwelcomed or welcomed? Were they able to purchase items such as food and clothing that supported their culture, or were they forced to purchase mainstream attire and foods due to unavailability? Were they met with organizational barriers, as well as language barriers when they were seeking employment? Were their abilities or disabilities recognized and accounted for? Was there evidence of respect, or lack thereof? Please be aware of the weight of “difference”, and how change on the outside fuels change on the inside. Read pages 47-49 in the textbook in order to grasp a better understanding of barriers.

 

3. Birth Order (5 points)

 

In this section you are to research the topic of birth order and include birth order in this section. This means you will research “birth order” and document the information that you found from a creditable source.

 

“Credible sources are written by authors respected in their fields of study. Responsible, credible authors will cite their sources so that you can check the accuracy of and support for what they’ve written.”

 

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/establishing_arguments/research_and_evidence.html

 

 

• *You are to report your birth order and quote the characteristics of your own birth order from a creditable source. (1.5 points)
• Do the characteristics that you researched fit your own birth order? Yes? No?

Provide examples. (1 point)

• *You are to report the birth order of the person that you interviewed and quote the characteristics of their birth order from a creditable source. (1.5 points)
• Do the characteristics that you researched fit their birth order?  Yes? No?

Provide examples. (1 point)

 

*Remember, use quotation marks at the beginning and end of quoted information, and a quote from a creditable source is accompanied by the author and title of the source.  Make sure to cite the source in your paper, as well as on the Reference page.

 

 

4. After reviewing the textbook, relate information from our class textbook to any ONE aspect from the interview. Clearly quote the class content and remember to provide the author and the page number, and how it is related to the interview. Remember to place your quote in quotation marks in the paper, and document in APA format on the APA Reference page.  (3 points)

 

5. APA Title page – 1 point
6. APA Reference page – 2 points

(*You are aware that two sources must be on this APA formatted reference page. You are aware that “hanging indents” are a requirement on an APA reference page!)

 

 

You need to know!

 

1- point deduction if you do not have an APA Title page. (Must be APA to earn credit.)

2 – point deduction if you do not have an APA Reference page.

 

.5 -point deduction per every 3 grammatical errors.

Capitalize the letter “I” when you are referring to yourself.

Do not use contractions. Contractions are grammatical errors in this course.  (Don’t, won’t, can’t, etc.)

Spell your words in their entirety. (Do not, will not, cannot, etc.)

 

1.5 deduction for every late day.

.25 deduction if page number is not positioned APA.

1 point deduction if not formatted with APA required headings.

 

This submission is to be at least 3 full pages. (Excluding title and reference pages).

1-point deduction for every page short of 3-page criteria.

 

If you do not know what a word means, then look it up before you use it.

Proofread, then proofread, and then repeat proofreading your paper!

 

 

Possible Interview Questions:

You may select questions from this list to guide your interview, as well as add your own.

1. What is your history? What is your home of origin? Why did you/your family settle in _____?
2. Do you work and what type of work do you do?
3. What are some of your family customs and roles of members within your family? What is your role in your family? Does birth order play a role in your family position or custom?
4. How closely do you identify with and affiliate with your culture? How assimilated into the mainstream culture are members of your family and how well is that accepted by the rest of the family?
5. What are the gender roles in your culture? And in your family?
6. What religious or spiritual beliefs are influential in your culture and for your family?
7. What are your family beliefs about around child rearing and discipline?
8. What would be the characteristics and practices of people who are considered to be excellent parents in your culture?
9. What are the power structures in your family? Is age a factor in who has power? How are decisions made at the family and community level?
10. Who holds positions of formal power in your culture? Who are the most powerful informal leaders in your community? Who held positions of power in the past?
11. What is your concept of health? What are customary health practices and beliefs? Who is responsible for and influences health care? Do you use home or folk remedies, a healer, shaman or some other traditional or spiritual healer?
12. What is your concept of time? Is this the same as others in your culture?
13. What is your concept of personal space? What is considered appropriate touch between people of various relationships? (Consider how people greet each other when they are first introduced, when they greet friends, when they greet relatives)
14. How can you communicate effectively in your culture? Consider the meaning of tone of voice, gestures, eye-contact, overall body language, terminology used to describe health, and face-saving behaviors.
15. Identify and verify customs, beliefs, and practices that might be misinterpreted by established institutions within your community e.g. schools, law enforcement, social services, health care providers (this includes such beliefs around certain body parts such as the head, male and female circumcision, cutting or puncturing the skin, transfusions, autopsies etc.)

TIP:

#1, #2 and #3 of the assignment are self-explanatory.

 

 

 

#4.  I want you to select any one aspect from our entire book and relate it to the interview. Make sure you provide the topic that relates, the Author AND THE PAGE NUMBER FROM THE BOOK! For example, if I were interviewing a lady that immigrated to the United States and she reported that one of the most difficult aspects or barriers associated with moving to the U.S. was non-acceptance and judgment of her culture, I would ask her to provide an example.  She may report that she covers her head with a scarf because this is considered to be normal for her culture, however she may feel judged in the US. for wearing the head cover and feel as if she is stereotyped as having ties to a terrorist group.   I would review our book titled: “Four Skills of Cultural Diversity Competence” and select information that related to her feelings. Example: “Judgment barriers relate to preconceptions, stereotypes and discrimination. This barrier is unconscious and automatic tendency to pass negative judgment on people who look and behave in unfamiliar ways”. (Hogan, 49). I would use this information and tie it to the interview.

 

APA format is required. This means that you will need to have an APA formatted Title page and an APA formatted Reference page for this assignment. You are welcome to use other sources of information for references, but you are required to use our textbook as one, as well as a creditable source for birth order. Make sure you list all references on the APA reference page and document correctly in the paper. If you do not use quotation marks, followed by the authors name, or the title of the resource, then I will not be able to identify when you are quoting as required.

 

Having a paragraph for each of the 4 grading requirements will help to ensure clarity and order in this assignment. Please review the example of how an APA paper must present. You will find that numbering each paragraph is not APA format. You will find that writing the question is not APA format, yet addressing the question and response in paragraph form is APA. Remember to use Headings above each paragraph.

 

Do follow the directions in this assignment in order to earn full credit. This assignment is not difficult, and I hope you learn something from the experience!

 

Make sure you thank your selected person for the time they have spent with you. This interview may have caused welcomed feeling to surface, as well as unwelcomed feelings and memories. Life review often triggers the good, the bad, and the ugly.

 

E-mail me if you have questions or concerns regarding this assignment. E-mail me well before the due date!

 

Best regards,

 

Mrs. V