Autoethnographic Interviews
Conduct interviews with two subjects on the topic of your autoethnography. Follow ethical primary research guidelines as discussed in class. (Draft your interview questions by Oct 15.) Record the interview with notes or digitally. Write the interview up in an analytical/narrative mode following the genre of autoethnography.
Interview write-ups should integrate secondary with primary research. They need to have a focus. What do you want the audience to take away from this write-up? A Q-and-A format (as in some examples of former students' work below) does not usually have an explicit purpose or meaning. Your job in the write-up is to identify and communicate that purpose and meaning.
Two interview write-ups or one write-up of two or more subjects must be published to your autoethnography site.
Use descriptive but topical and interesting titles for readers (see Carroll and Arola et al.) -- not "interview with mom."
Things to remember:
paraphrase more than quote
use quotes sparingly
introduce the context (give readers any background)
narrate your ideas and feelings both during the interview and upon reflection (this can be done sparingly)
reflect upon the process in the write-up
narrate or describe some nonverbal or other relevant events or contexts (where did interview take place?)
use active verbs and precise, interesting language
redact and reduce: write it up in 500-800 words
record with the option of providing audio or audiovisual to your audience
connect interview themes to the research
analyze the relevance to the whole project
analyze different aspects or themes of the interview, either on the write-up page or on another page (final four)
make sense for readers; prioritize and hierarchize what is important
think of your audience, what they know, what they don't, what you want them to take away
Here are the autoethnographic interview methods according to Carolyn Ellis (professor of Communication at USF) from her book, The Ethnographic I.
3 choices:1. reflexive dyadic (the most common)
--one on one
--element of reflection: what were you thinking during the process and what are you thinking as you present it in your write-up
--reflection can have a bearing on how you edit the interview and how you introduce it/discuss it in voice over before/during/after
--breaks down barrier between you, researcher and them, participant
--allows researcher to be co-participant
--emphasizes affect
2. interactive
--conversation with multiple persons at once, all of whom share a common experience with the topic
--breaks down barrier between you, researcher and them,
participant
--allows researcher to be co-participant
--emphasizes affect
3. co-constructed narrative
--sit down with a two persons and help them make sense of things that are hard to make sense of; involves emergent knowledge construction
ethical considerations:
Beyond minimal standard research protocol:
Subjects participate in their own representation by looking at drafts and having input.
interview questions:
different stakeholders get different questions
Current 101 student rough draft examples to analyze:
See how Jasmine referenced a source from her secondary research in her interview write-up. Now, how would you develop the integration of this research further? How do you plan to integrate your secondary research? What is the purpose of this interview? Did you learn from it? Does the write-up have a focus (or controlling idea)? Is it implicit or explicit?
Read Ainsley's interview. Draft a sample topic sentence for a revision. What is the focus of the interview? How does it relate back to the secondary research? What follow up question would you draft to get the interviewee to comment on the research?
Take a look at some good examples from previous 101 students:
Ava's interview with director Sean Graney
Naman's interview with his mom about investing
Gordon's interview with his dad about Gordon's love of Greek Mythology and the culture of mythology
Interview write-ups should integrate secondary with primary research. They need to have a focus. What do you want the audience to take away from this write-up? A Q-and-A format (as in some examples of former students' work below) does not usually have an explicit purpose or meaning. Your job in the write-up is to identify and communicate that purpose and meaning.
Two interview write-ups or one write-up of two or more subjects must be published to your autoethnography site.
Use descriptive but topical and interesting titles for readers (see Carroll and Arola et al.) -- not "interview with mom."
Things to remember:
paraphrase more than quote
use quotes sparingly
introduce the context (give readers any background)
narrate your ideas and feelings both during the interview and upon reflection (this can be done sparingly)
reflect upon the process in the write-up
narrate or describe some nonverbal or other relevant events or contexts (where did interview take place?)
use active verbs and precise, interesting language
redact and reduce: write it up in 500-800 words
record with the option of providing audio or audiovisual to your audience
connect interview themes to the research
analyze the relevance to the whole project
analyze different aspects or themes of the interview, either on the write-up page or on another page (final four)
make sense for readers; prioritize and hierarchize what is important
think of your audience, what they know, what they don't, what you want them to take away
Here are the autoethnographic interview methods according to Carolyn Ellis (professor of Communication at USF) from her book, The Ethnographic I.
3 choices:1. reflexive dyadic (the most common)
--one on one
--element of reflection: what were you thinking during the process and what are you thinking as you present it in your write-up
--reflection can have a bearing on how you edit the interview and how you introduce it/discuss it in voice over before/during/after
--breaks down barrier between you, researcher and them, participant
--allows researcher to be co-participant
--emphasizes affect
2. interactive
--conversation with multiple persons at once, all of whom share a common experience with the topic
--breaks down barrier between you, researcher and them,
participant
--allows researcher to be co-participant
--emphasizes affect
3. co-constructed narrative
--sit down with a two persons and help them make sense of things that are hard to make sense of; involves emergent knowledge construction
ethical considerations:
Beyond minimal standard research protocol:
Subjects participate in their own representation by looking at drafts and having input.
interview questions:
different stakeholders get different questions
Current 101 student rough draft examples to analyze:
See how Jasmine referenced a source from her secondary research in her interview write-up. Now, how would you develop the integration of this research further? How do you plan to integrate your secondary research? What is the purpose of this interview? Did you learn from it? Does the write-up have a focus (or controlling idea)? Is it implicit or explicit?
Read Ainsley's interview. Draft a sample topic sentence for a revision. What is the focus of the interview? How does it relate back to the secondary research? What follow up question would you draft to get the interviewee to comment on the research?
Take a look at some good examples from previous 101 students:
Ava's interview with director Sean Graney
Naman's interview with his mom about investing
Gordon's interview with his dad about Gordon's love of Greek Mythology and the culture of mythology