Step 1: Contact Your Interviewee

As a reminder, the person you interview should have at least three different identities from you.

The identity categories include:

• Ability status
• Age (early adulthood: 21-34, early middle-age: 35-44, late middle-age: 45-64, late adulthood: 65-84, very late adulthood: 85 and older)
• Ethnicity
• Gender identity
• Race
• Religion (different denominations within the same religion do not count)
• Sex
• Sexual orientation

Step 2: Conduct the Interview

You should spend at least 90 minutes speaking with your interview subject. Remember to use the interview questions you created as a guide in M3: Assignment-Interview Preparation.

Step 3: Analyze Interview Content

Analyze your interview information. The paper cannot include everything you learned from the interview, so you must select the ideas, information, and quotations to make an interesting and coherent paper.

Note: Do not provide a transcript of the interview, just an analysis. Your paper should be comprehensive and not in question/answer format. Like any paper, you should have an introduction/overview, a descriptive narrative, and a summary that includes a personal reflection.

Step 4: Write the Final Paper

Your final paper should include the following sections:

Introduction/Overview

Introduce your reader to the person you interviewed and provide your reader with a general overview of what you did to prepare for the interview. Some questions to consider are:

• Who did you select for your interview?
• Why did you choose this person?
• How are youridentities different?
• Elaborate enough to show the contrast.
• How did you prepare for your interview?
• Where did the interview take place?
• How long did it last?
• How did you use a safe space? What made it so, or what didn't?
• What did you already know about this person's identities?
• How easy or difficult was it to ask the questions and have a conversation about theiridentities? Why?
• Did you feel comfortable or uncomfortable during your interview? Why?
• How do you think the other person felt? What gave you that impression?
• What were verbal and nonverbal cues present?

Be specific in your paper. Include examples as needed to illustrate your points.

Descriptive Analysis

have a analysis about what you learned as a visitor to the other person's identities. In talking to your interviewee, you may ask them to consider some of these questions in addition to those you prepared:

• What part of your identity do you think most people notice first about you?
• What part of your identity are you most/least comfortable sharing with others?
• What part of your identity are you most proud of?
• What part of your identity is most important to you?
• Based on your research and your interview, what were some things you learned about the other person's identities that surprised you or you found fascinating?
• What did you learn about your interviewee's worldview?
• How did this compare to some of the concepts learned in class?
• How did this interview help you become aware of your worldview?
• Did you find some similarities or sharp contrasts?
• For example, did you notice that your worldview began to expand as you learned about another person's identities?

Here's your opportunity to share what you learned about the other person's identities. Does it differ from what you read in your references?

Summary and Personal Reflection

This last part of your paper is a chance for you to reflect on the whole experience. Explain what you learned about yourself, your biases, assumptions, and limitations as a person with different identities than your interviewee. The following are some questions for you to consider to assist you with your self-reflection.

• What were the most important things you learned from this interview about identities?
• What surprised you, challenged you, or will stay with you as an important lesson learned?
• What changed in you as a result of this interview/conversation?
• What about your openness to differences?
• Did you notice any personal biases/assumptions that got in your way?
• How did you overcome them to stay nonjudgmental to your interviewee and maintain a safe space? Consider the applicability of some of the concepts you are learning in class. Use your textbook and additional readings as a guide.
• In considering the best practices for working with clients, were there communication practices (asking open questions, not interrupting, staying silent but present, etc.) that you wished you had used or done better? Please use your textbooks as a guide.
• How did this experience help you understand the challenges and complexities experienced by others with different identities than your own?
• What is your major takeaway from this assignment?
• Most importantly, how will this experience help to prepare you to be a more culturally competent social worker?