You will interview someone who you believe represents an ethnic group/religious group/sexual orientation/lifestyle, etc. towards which you have a bias.  You will approach it as follows:

 

“I am taking a class called ‘Working with Diversity’ and have an assignment to interview someone different from me in some way.  I was hoping you might be willing to let me interview you.  I want to assure you that the only person who would see this information is the instructor and I will not use your name in the final paper. I may also discuss what I learned about myself from this interview in class, but not details about you. I would have a number of questions to ask you; I will not press you to answer any questions with which you are uncomfortable.  The interview should take between 30 minutes and an hour. Would you be willing to let me interview you?” 

 

Questions for the interview:

 

  1. Can you tell me about yourself, describing what you think it is important for me to know about you to get a full picture of who you are?
  2. Please describe the factors in your life have made your life easiest.
  3. Please describe the factors in your life have made your life more difficult?
  4. How do you think people who do not really know you perceive you?
  5. How do you think people who know you really well perceive you?
  6. What are the most important values in your life, and how does this impact your life?

 

If the person has not brought up the factor that determined that you asked this person for an interview, this is the point in which you need to bring it up, using question #7.  If the person has brought it up, you can go to question #8.

 

  1. One difference I perceived between us was __________________.  Can you tell me if I am correct in this perception?  If I am not, please help me understand how my perception of you that way may have impacted your life?  If I am correct, please tell me more about the influence of this on your life.

 

                     OR

 

  1. Please tell me more about the influence of ______________ on your life.

 

Thank you so much for your time and willingness to share this information.  Again, I want to reassure you that this information will only be shared with my instructor, without your name mentioned anywhere, and I may also discuss what I learned about myself from this interview in class, but not details about you.  If you have any concerns about this interview, please feel free to contact my instructor, Sheri Narin, at 336-599-1181 ext. 424.  Thank you again for your time.

 

 

 

After the interview is complete, you will write (TYPE) up what you have learned and also answer the additional questions below in your paper.  The paper should be written in

The form of a paper, with paragraphs and the information, not questions and answers.

 

Additional questions:

 

1)      Talk about your comfort level in doing this interview.  How do you think that was communicated to the client? (If you were uncomfortable, what messages did the client receive from your body language, etc?)

2)      What perceptions did you have of this person before going into the interview?

3)      How did those perceptions change, if they did change, as the interview progressed?

4)      Were you correct about the factor that you believe was characteristic of this person?  If yes, what were the signs that made you determine this?  If you were incorrect, what were the signs that led you to this incorrect belief?

5)      What did you learn from this interview (Note:  This should be a detailed answer!)

 

 

You will do two interviews and this will be due in class on Monday, May 2, 2005.