One of your major assignments this semester is to interview two people over the

One of your major assignments this semester is to interview two people over the age of 55, and use these interviews to develop a paper on the psychology of aging. Below are some key details about this assignment, but please be sure to also read through the attached documents in this module for additional information.
Why am I being asked to complete this assignment? If you look at the course objectives on the syllabus, you will see that one of your course objectives is to “Describe the typical patterns of change that occur with healthy aging and analyze whether these patterns are present for particular individuals”. This assignment was designed to fulfill this objective! You will have the opportunity to learn about whether or not the “normal” changes that you learn about in this course have occurred (or not!) for people that you know. This will also allow you to see the relevance of this course for the aging process of people that you personally know.
Who should I interview? You need to interview two people who are at least 55 years old. This is the minimum age of the people you interview, and I would suggest trying to interview the oldest individuals that you know. These could be friends, family members, coworkers, etc. If you are having problems finding people to interview, please let me know as soon as possible.
What do I need to do during the interviews? There is a list of questions that you will ask each person you interview (see Interview_Paper_Guidelines.pdf opens in new window). Before you start each interview, make sure you have (a) thoroughly read through the questions you will ask, (b) are prepared to take notes on the responses, and (c) are in a quiet place where you will not be interrupted. Interviews can be conducted in person, over the phone or Skype, over email, etc. You do NOT need to turn in your notes from the interviews.
What if the person that I am interviewing does not understand the question?
Please feel free to reword any questions that your interviewee do not understand. You may also need to ask follow-up questions if your interviewee provided very short answers and you need additional information about the topic! Sometimes people are very succinct in their responses, and you want to ensure that you receive enough information from them to write a coherent paper. For example, when asked: “Do you think your hearing abilities have changed with age?” an interviewee may simply respond “yes”. If this happens, you should follow-up by asking them for examples of how their abilities have changed.
When should I conduct these interviews? Your interview paper is due by Sunday, March 5th at 11 PM. However, you can begin conducting the interviews as soon as you want! I recommend that you try to complete both interviews within the first month of the semester
What are the next steps after I conduct the interviews? You will use your notes from the interview to help you write an 8-page paper summarizing the responses and comparing their responses to the information that you learned in the course. There are more details about what information you should include and how the paper should be formatted in the paper guidelines document posted in this module. Please read these guidelines very carefully, and let me know if you have questions!
Do I need to include citations in my paper? The textbook and the lecture videos will provide you all the information that you need to successfully complete this assignment. You do NOT need to cite either of these sources, but I do expect you to put information in your own words (i.e., don’t include direct quotes from the text ). However, if you choose to include information in your answers that you found online or in journal articles, please provide a citation for this information. To be clear, I do not expect you to have to do this though! All the information you need is in the textbook.
When is the paper due? The paper is due by March 5th at 11 PM. You will submit it here on iCollege.
How will I be graded? There is a grading rubric posted in this module. You will also find an example “A” paper in this module. Please look over these and make sure that you are including all of the information that we will be looking for when grading the papers.
There is one thing that students in previous semesters have commonly lost points for that I would like to point out. As you will see in the instructions and on the rubric, on the last page of your paper you are also asked to briefly reflect on how this assignment has helped (or not) your understanding of the psychology of aging. This is the most forgotten part of this assignment. Please be sure to include this information.One of your major assignments this semester is to interview two people over the age of 55, and use these interviews to develop a paper on the psychology of aging. Below are some key details about this assignment, but please be sure to also read through the attached documents in this module for additional information.
Why am I being asked to complete this assignment? If you look at the course objectives on the syllabus, you will see that one of your course objectives is to “Describe the typical patterns of change that occur with healthy aging and analyze whether these patterns are present for particular individuals”. This assignment was designed to fulfill this objective! You will have the opportunity to learn about whether or not the “normal” changes that you learn about in this course have occurred (or not!) for people that you know. This will also allow you to see the relevance of this course for the aging process of people that you personally know.
Who should I interview? You need to interview two people who are at least 55 years old. This is the minimum age of the people you interview, and I would suggest trying to interview the oldest individuals that you know. These could be friends, family members, coworkers, etc. If you are having problems finding people to interview, please let me know as soon as possible.
What do I need to do during the interviews? There is a list of questions that you will ask each person you interview (see Interview_Paper_Guidelines.pdf opens in new window). Before you start each interview, make sure you have (a) thoroughly read through the questions you will ask, (b) are prepared to take notes on the responses, and (c) are in a quiet place where you will not be interrupted. Interviews can be conducted in person, over the phone or Skype, over email, etc. You do NOT need to turn in your notes from the interviews.
What if the person that I am interviewing does not understand the question?
Please feel free to reword any questions that your interviewee do not understand. You may also need to ask follow-up questions if your interviewee provided very short answers and you need additional information about the topic! Sometimes people are very succinct in their responses, and you want to ensure that you receive enough information from them to write a coherent paper. For example, when asked: “Do you think your hearing abilities have changed with age?” an interviewee may simply respond “yes”. If this happens, you should follow-up by asking them for examples of how their abilities have changed.
When should I conduct these interviews? Your interview paper is due by Sunday, March 5th at 11 PM. However, you can begin conducting the interviews as soon as you want! I recommend that you try to complete both interviews within the first month of the semester
What are the next steps after I conduct the interviews? You will use your notes from the interview to help you write an 8-page paper summarizing the responses and comparing their responses to the information that you learned in the course. There are more details about what information you should include and how the paper should be formatted in the paper guidelines document posted in this module. Please read these guidelines very carefully, and let me know if you have questions!
Do I need to include citations in my paper? The textbook and the lecture videos will provide you all the information that you need to successfully complete this assignment. You do NOT need to cite either of these sources, but I do expect you to put information in your own words (i.e., don’t include direct quotes from the text ). However, if you choose to include information in your answers that you found online or in journal articles, please provide a citation for this information. To be clear, I do not expect you to have to do this though! All the information you need is in the textbook.
When is the paper due? The paper is due by March 5th at 11 PM. You will submit it here on iCollege.
How will I be graded? There is a grading rubric posted in this module. You will also find an example “A” paper in this module. Please look over these and make sure that you are including all of the information that we will be looking for when grading the papers.
There is one thing that students in previous semesters have commonly lost points for that I would like to point out. As you will see in the instructions and on the rubric, on the last page of your paper you are also asked to briefly reflect on how this assignment has helped (or not) your understanding of the psychology of aging. This is the most forgotten part of this assignment. Please be sure to include this information.
this is the textbook for my psychology of aging class: Cavanaugh, J. C., & Blanchard-Fields, F. (2019). Adult Development and Aging (8th
edition). Boston: CengageCavanaugh, J. C., & Blanchard-Fields, F. (2019). Adult Development and Aging (8th
edition). Boston: Cengage.
The instructions should be pretty clear, but please let me know if not!