Field Assignment: Research Project
For this assignment you will have the opportunity to conduct a case study, of sorts, to create a project that explores an aspect of child development in greater depth. Below is a step-by-step pathway for you to follow in completing this project. This pathway is designed to take you through the work needed to produce an excellent product. Follow it closely and ask questions for anything you don’t understand.General Guidelines:1.The final project papers are expected to be a minimum of 8 pages, typed and double-spaced.
Use a 12-point Times New Roman, or similar font and 1” margins all the way around.2.Papers are required to have 5 (five) citations from the course text but may have more and may include additional citations from other credible sources. As you move through the research and writing process, continually think about how what you are doing/learning in your research/writing links with what you have read in the textbook and learned in class. Locate and note the page number RIGHT THEN so you can find it later. All sources, including your textbook, are to be cited correctly on a separate Sources page at the end of your paper. This sources page DOES NOT count as one of your minimum 8 pages. See the APA Citations information in the Guidelines Module for this class.3.Read over the rubric very carefully. Make sure you know what you are being asked to do and where are your points coming from. Your time will be most effectively invested in this project if you work smart from the very beginning.
Objective: To become aware of differences in family preparations for childbirth or adoption between generations.
Procedure: Interview 3 people from 3 different generations (include their ages or the years they gave birth) about their preparations for their first child. A generation is approximately 20 years, so the experiences of your interviewees should span, at a minimum, 40 years.
When interviewing families with multiple children, remember to focus on the first child born for each family. One of the three families you interview may have an adopted child, or all three families may have birth children.
Ask them about the listed topics and along with any other questions you choose to add. You will be using the information that you gather to write your paper, which will summarize the information that you gather AND compare/contrast that information among all three generations.
Identify how beliefs and practices have stayed the same or changed over time. Your examples will need to be specific, with an analysis of how things have changed/not changed, and why, as well as how the things you discovered during your interviews compare to what you are learning in this class.
You must apply the information that you learned in class and from your book to complete a successful project.Looking for an in-depth explanation of why customs and procedures in preparing for parenthood may have changed or remained the same. Remember to include at least five citations from your text.
Topics to be explored in your interviews are:
How did the parents make the decision to become pregnant or adopt a child? What did they consider?
For pregnancy:
Choice of doctor, obstetrician, midwife
Recommended weight gain
Feelings about being pregnant and changes that might result
Preparation for the birth/parenthood – reading, classes, etc.
Labor & delivery decisions – who made them, who was present, use of drugs or different positions during labor, where birth will take place
Nutrition and exercise during pregnancy
Father’s, sibling’s, or other’s participation in the birth
Breast vs. bottle feeding
Parental leave – did anyone take time away from work to stay home with the baby.
What was the decision about continuing to work outside the home?
Feelings after birth/experiences as new parents. Was the experience what the parents expected, or different from what they had expected?
Other issues of interest
For adoption
Choice of adoption agency, pediatrician, country of child’s birth, special needs, if applicable
How old was the child when he/she first arrived in the family?
What did you know about the child’s genetic or medical history, birth mother’s prenatal care, birth mother’s age, birth parents’ medical or personal history, care child received prior to adoption, etc.?
Feelings about waiting for the child and changes that might result from adopting the child
Preparation for adopting a child – reading, classes, orientations, trips to child’s home country, etc.
Sibling’s, grandparents, or other’s participation in decision to adopt or presence at child’s arrival
Parental leave – did anyone take time away from work to stay home with the new child?
What was the decision about continuing to work outside the home, if any?
Feelings after arrival of the child/experiences as new parents. Was the experience what the parents expected or different from what they had expected?
Other issues of interest especially related to the child’s first year of life.
When it comes time to actually write your paper you may organize your information so that your comparisons/contrasts occur throughout the paper as you discuss what you learned during your interviews, or it may be presented as a summary at the end. Examples of questions to get you started as you compare/contrast the information from your interviews include:
Are customs in preparing for parenthood the same among these generations?
Which customs are the same, which have changed?
Why did they change or stay the same?
Step 2: Conduct Interviews to Gather Information
1. Create a list of questions for the interview. You may include any listed above for your option or compose questions of your own.
Each interviewee should be asked pretty much the same questions, although you can deviate a bit on your follow up questions, based on how each interviewee responds to certain of your questions.
2. Contact each of your interviewees and set up a time to interview them as soon as possible. Each interview will take 30 min.- 1 hour to conduct.
Remember, this can be done in-person or it can be done electronically by emailing the questions and receiving the answers, by Skype or Facetime, or by phone. Face-to-face/in-person interviews are preferred but go with whatever works that will meet your interview completion deadline.
The drawback of email interviews is that you have much less control over when they will be completed. ‘My person didn’t email me back’ is frustrating! If they don’t email you back, then you MUST find someone else to interview. The deadline for interview completion should be considered firm. REMEMBER, IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED TO VOICE RECORD YOUR IN-PERSON INTEVIEWS!!! Transcribing them to a text document is MUCH simpler that way.
3. Have each of your interviewees complete a copy of the Interview Verification Form that you will find at the end of this assignment. If your interview is conducted virtually, you can have them email the form to you, or digitally sign it and return it to you.
Step 3: Writing the Rough Draft of Your Paper
1. Read back over the directions for the option you have chosen VERY CAREFULLY, along with the scoring rubric for this assignment. What are the objectives for the option you are working on? Exactly what are you supposed to compare and contrast?
2. Review the rubric again. What are you expected to do with this paper? Where are the points coming from?
3. A rough outline for your paper follows. You are not held to these suggestions, but they should help guide your writing by breaking it down into manageable segments.
i. Title Page – including your Topic Option, your name, the name of this class and the final due date.
ii. Introduction – Explains what you set out to learn about. Assume the reader does not have access to the assignment details so tell us what you set out to do and to learn about. Introduce us to some of the topics we are going to learn about in your paper. Whet our appetite for what we are about to read. Engage the reader. Approximate length: ½-1 page.
iii. What you learned from Interviewee #1 – Briefly introduce this person to us. We don’t need their name, but we should have their approximate age and a short bio about them.
Go on to elaborate about what you learned during the interview. DO NOT simply make this a regurgitation of the interview questions and their answers. Adhere to what they told you in the interview but tell their story.
You are essentially a news interviewer or documentary writer. Their story is the important part, not the questions you asked to get to that story. Approximate length: 2 pages.
iv. What you learned from Interviewee #2 – Ditto above. You are telling the story of this person. Approximate length: 2 pages.
v. What you learned from Interviewee #3 – Again, ditto above. Tell their story and make us interested to hear it. Approximate length: 2 pages.
vi. Compare/Contrast/Reflect/Ponder/Analyze – What connections can you make between what your interviewees shared with you and what you have learned in class and through your class readings?
How do you account for differences in how people answered your questions? Are they intergenerational differences? Purely individual differences in preferences?
Differences brought on by some societal or cultural influence? How do you feel about what you learned?
How will what you learned impact your future work with children and families, either your own or those you may work with professionally some day?
Each project option listed several comparison/contrast points to be addressed as well. Spend some quality time on this section.
This section will also include your conclusion paragraph where you attempt to draw it all together. Make it a strong ending to your paper. Make sure you have cited text information at least 5 times in this section of the paper. When appropriate, you may also cite other sources of information, such as research articles or other factual sources. Approximate Length: 2 pages.
4. Take your finished draft and work through the Scoring Rubric for this assignment and score yourself.
5. Give your paper and the Scoring Rubric to at least 2 guest editors who can give you the hard news that your paper needs more work but who will also recognize what things you have done well.
You don’t want someone who will rubber stamp a poorly written paper because they don’t want to hurt your feelings.
Step 4: Completing Your Final Draft
1. Work carefully through the feedback you received on your interview submission
2. and from people you asked to provide feedback on your work.
3. Edit your paper one final time for final draft format. Make every effort to have this done 3-4 days early so you can let it rest for a day or two before looking at it the final time before turning it in!
