Adulthood and Aging
Interview paper
For this assignment, you must interview two people and compare their experiences. You may either do a comparison of older-old (75+) and younger-old (60-75) or a comparison of a man’s experiences with aging to a woman’s experiences (make sure they are of a similar age).
The people may be family members or someone you are otherwise acquainted with. Do not provide identifying information about your interview subject in your paper – the subject’s identity should remain confidential. You can just use the person’s first name. Your interview should be conducted in-person. If this is impossible, you may conduct a series of phone interviews. Do NOT interview them together.
The primary focus of your reflection paper should be the connection of interviewee’s responses to course themes, issues, and terminology from the book. Your paper should clearly and knowledgably reflect at least 7 major topics from the course (please see attached syllabus under weekly course outline, topic section), making it a truly “comprehensive” project. When writing your paper, do not rewrite the interview word-for-word. Summarize what was said and use relevant quotes to support your ideas.
I strongly recommend that you approach your case study paper early. You will want to carefully prepare questions in advance to ensure that all relevant topics are covered. When interviewing your participants, be sure to discuss how they are living their lives on psychological (how they are feeling – emotionally), social (friendships, lovers…), cognitive (memory, disorientation…), and physical (physical ailments) levels. For most subjects, the interview process will take about an hour.
Projects must be typed with the following specs: 1,300 to 1,950 words, 1” margins, 12 pt. font, double- spaced. The last page of your paper will be your interview questions. Always spell-check and read it out loud for grammatical errors (helpful hint). Grade points may have been LOST due to poor writing and/or editing – lack of focus and/or organization.
