sociology of aging
Conversational analysis Paper Assignment: Each student will conduct a conversational interview with two people aged 65 years or older (the same two people each week), by engaging them in a conversation about their life. Your final paper will be a life course analysis centered on those two individuals. One of your contacts could be a person classified as well-elderly and the other contact must be a person considered to be frail-elderly (as defined by the text) and currently residing in a nursing facility (there is no acceptable alternative to this requirement). You may opt to interview two frail elderly respondents, but one must be a full time resident in a nursing facility. Your respondents will be unrelated and unknown to you or your family and you cannot interview two people in the same location (same room/house) or at the same time. After establishing contact, each student will be required to spend time (a minimum 30 minutes per week @ each) in direct eye-to-eye contact with respondents; phone interviews are not allowable for this project. Toward the end of the semester, students will prepare a 10 page paper (five pages per person) focusing on important aspects of their life course and corresponding trajectory (Chap 2 Quadagno). This would be major events in their lives, the age when the events were experienced, the period in which they were experienced and the impact of those experiences on themselves and others. Your conversational interview paper should draw upon sociological concepts and theories to frame your data presentation and analysis which you will see in the text. As a conclusion to your paper, you might compare and contrast your respondent’s lives as to why one is well and the other frail or other such differences. (I have circumvented the lit review and proposed method part of your paper with this assignment; we are utilizing the life course perspective and our method is in-depth interview). Papers are due no later than 11:30 pm (4/28). Although contacts may be made at assisted living facilities, nursing homes, retirement communities, senior citizen centers, churches, nutrition sites, or other appropriate locations one contact must be with an elderly person residing in a nursing facility. Students will use observation and conversational interview techniques during these visits to complete two written assignments (journals and analysis). Note: Just to give you a heads-up, you may be asked to volunteer some time at the institution where you conduct interviews and you may be required to pass a back-ground check so start looking now!
ALL Assignments: Will be typed, double spaced in Times New Roman 12 point font with 1 inch margins all around. Your final paper will require a cover page with your name, date and name of assignment. Appropriate citations must be made from sources other than your personal knowledge. “A” papers must be analytical in nature, show originality and thoughtfulness, and be essentially free of spelling and grammatical errors.
Sample Conversation analysis
I met my frail-elderly respondent at Fairfax Manor after having visited with the Director of
Nurses (DON). The definition of frail-elderly is that the individual “shows some mental or physical deterioration and depend on others for carrying out daily activities” (7). My respondent’s living in Fairfax Manor illustrates she is dependent upon others for everyday activities. I began our conversations by introducing myself and my project and informing the respondent she did not need to answer any questions and everything I learned would remain confidential. I determined that my respondent is a member of the swing generation cohort when she told me “I was born in a covered wagon on the 27th of December, 1920 out west of Cherokee, Oklahoma. My parents were moving from western Oklahoma to over near the Arkansas River in Pawnee County so my father could farm. He bought 200 acres for $60.00 and I was raised on that farm.” Her statement was very thought provoking so I asked what it was like growing up on the farm. “We had most everything we needed. We milked cows everyday and sold milk. We kept the milk down in the well or in the cellar so that it would stay cool. Mama would scrape the cream off the top of the milk and we would take turns churning it into butter… Daddy raised a big garden and we always had plenty of fresh vegetables. During the summer, mama and us girls would can the vegetables so we would have food during the winter. I remember once during the depression daddy took a cow to town and traded for two pair of breaches, two shirts, and a pair of boots. Everything was rough during the depression.”
Notice how I utilized the information from my respondent (direct quotes from the interviews) to analyze and organize her statements (data) with information introduced and covered in the Quadagno text. Additionally, I could have included as analysis my respondent’s chronological age. If I were to assess the functional age, I would compare/contrast the respondent’s current abilities against my knowledge/literature of what those abilities should be at that particular age. The subsequent information that I have included reveals details of early life. Revisit chapter 2 for life course transitions and use those transitions as a map or outline for your analysis paper (birth, early life, education, marriage, work, retirement, etc). Your analysis should flow from birth to present day incorporating the major points in the life course.
