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Practice Reports

Method Practice Report 1- Interview

The method that I decided to try was the interview method. I decided to try the interview method to obtain data because I have never done a one-on-one interview with an adult or a child. I think that by trying this method, I could determine whether an interview is a method suitable for my research project. I also wanted to know whether an interview would give me the answers and data that I expected.

I decided to interview a 16 year old girl that I know. I conducted the interview at her house and no one was there to listen to the conversation. I explained to her that the purpose of my interview was to try and understand whether social media affect the way girls view their bodies. I told her she did not have to answer a question if she did not want to.

I began the interview by asking her “How often do you check your newsfeed on Facebook?” She replied that she checks Facebook about 4 times a day. Then I asked her “What do you think about when you see thin girls on television, advertisements, magazines, and Facebook?” She told me that she thinks the girls on the media are pretty. She likes the fashion and clothes worn by the thin girls on television and magazines. She says she would like to wear them too. I asked her “Have you ever felt the want to lose weight after seeing thin girls on social media?” She said she wanted to because she saw the before and after pictures of girls that went through weight loss.

I think it was easy to utilize this method because the interviewee was comfortable with sharing her thoughts. It might be difficult to utilize this method if the interviewee is uncomfortable with the questions or with sharing their thoughts. I expected certain responses from the interviewee and she gave me the responses I was expecting. I would not use this method for my research project because the interviewee could be bias or only say what the researcher wants to hear. It also takes time to conduct enough one-on-one interviews to have results from a larger sample population.

Questions from Interview:

  • How often do you check your newsfeed on Facebook?
  • What do you think about when you see thin girls on television, advertisements, and magazines?
  • Do you compare yourself to your friends when you see their Facebook pictures?
  • Have you ever felt the want to lose weight after seeing thin girls on social media?
  • Do the comments of friends and people around you ever make you think differently about your body?
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