Interview Method Post #1

The method I chose to do was the interview method. I want to do the method because I find it extremely interesting to see how children respond to certain questions. I interviewed my 10 year old niece and her friend. My niece who knows me very well and her friend who met me moments before I said asking her questions. I interviewed them both about Thanksgiving. I came with questions that I thought were easy so I thought.

Before I started my interview, I asked them both if they were comfortable with me asking them questions. My niece was ok with the idea but her friend however seemed a bit uncomfortable. So I asked them if they wanted to play a game before we started the interview and they both agreed. We let my niece friend pick the game that we all should play which was trouble. The game of trouble lasted for quite a while but I did noticed that my niece friend became more relaxed and comfortable. After the game was over we cleaned up the area and started the interview questions.

Interview Questions
What does Thanksgiving mean to you?
What are your favorite dish or dishes for thanksgiving?
Do you help your parent(s) prepare for thanksgiving?
Do you travel for thanksgiving? If so where?
Do you do anything special for thanksgiving?
If there is anything they want to change about thanksgiving?
At first their were a lot of “ I don’t knows,” so I ended up having them ask me the questions first. Once I answered the questions both my niece and her friend had a better understanding of what I was asking them. They started thinking about prior thanksgiving experiences and what they help their parents do. Once they understood what I was asking of them they were very eager to participate in my interview and wanted me to ask them more questions. So I created a few more questions for the to answer.

Questions Continued
Do you help your parent(s) clean up after thanksgiving?
Do you enjoy thanksgiving?
Do you wish thanksgiving was everyday?

After a while, both my niece and her friend started asking each other their own questions. From this experiences I gathered that my questions need to be clear and age appropriate. That way it’s easier to get a response from children.