Narrative Interview Assignment
Guidelines for the Narrative Interview Assignment Hopefully from the start of your study of economics, you have begun seeing how you and those you encounter in your everyday life are all economic agents, contributing to the economy and our society. It is sometimes difficult to understand how exactly the people you know are affected by economic fluctuations and policies. In this course, you need to interview someone who has experienced an economic downturn and write a summary of the interview including a personal reflection. There are two main objectives for this task: - For you to learn firsthand about a past economic issue and the effect on people who experienced it. - For you to use this new knowledge to better understand the economic decisions in the modern world and their possible impacts. You should focus on one of the following economic events. You should first research the event, so you know what happened in broad terms. You then need to choose someone who can describe what it was like living through that event and how it affected them during the event and afterwards. Perhaps this person can be part of your family, a friend or someone you know through work. Topics: •Coronavirus •Global Financial Crisis •Early 2000s Latin America Crises •1997 Asian Financial Crisis •Early 1990s recession in Australia •Oil price crises in 1973, 1979 •Great Leap Forward in China (1958-1961) •Great Depression Note that students who conducted an interview previously for this unit or other units (e.g. ECON110) MUST choose a completely different topic and their interview and write-up must be new and different from their previous works. Possible guiding questions for the person you interview: The purpose of the interview is to describe the experiences and perspectives of someone who was affected by the economic event you have chosen. You should start by choosing someone to interview, either over the phone or in person. You should then conduct the interview with them, asking the questions below and three of your own questions about elements of the situation that you find interesting. You should focus the interview on the person’s: - employment status (e.g. was the person employed at the time?, what job did they have?, did they lose their job?) - family status (e.g. was the person married/single?, did the person have children/other people dependent on them?, were they worried how to provide for them during the economic event?) - economic obligations (e.g. were they forced to sell their house/belongings? did they have to leave the place they lived?) - what they feel about the government’s policies to address the economic event - how the person’s experiences during this downturn affected how they think about their subsequent lives and current events? You should include some of your own questions based on the situation. Structure of your essay: Once your interview is complete, you should write a narrative using the information you found out. You should include basic personal information about the person, as well as descriptions about his or her experiences and perspectives. You should try to make links between what you find out from the person and the economic concepts we have discussed so far in the lectures. You should also reflect on your interview by explaining what you found most interesting about it and how, if at all, it has changed your perspectives about economics. Your write-up should follow the structure listed below and should be between 800 and 1000 words. Around 200 of these words should be a reflection on your experience of the interview, including anything new or interesting you learnt about the person/event and how the interview relates to topics discussed in the economics course so far. There is no need for a reference list. 1st paragraph: Write a short summary of the economic event, based on your research (e.g., from the internet). There is no need for formal references. 2nd paragraph: Explain who the interviewee is and why you chose that person to explore the event you are addressing. 3rd and 4th paragraphs: Summarise what the person said in the interview using information you gathered as to their experiences during the economic downturn and how it affected them and their family. Write what you learned about how their world beliefs (e.g. economic and political) were affected by the situation and how they think about the economic event now looking back. Include any other information that came up in response to your questions that you feel is relevant to understanding this person’s experience of the economic event you are focusing on. 5th paragraph: Reflect on how you can link what you learnt from the interview to the economics topics and issues we have discussed in the lectures. Write about what you found to be the most interesting part of the interview and if it helped make you think differently about economic events. You might also like to think about if it has made you think any differently about the person you interviewed and their life experiences. The following may help: “He (the interviewee) believes strongly that learning about our economy is important in order to understand how things are intertwined: This interview has definitely influenced my thoughts and interests about learning more about the economy and also learning about what we can do now to change its current situation.” “I have never really discussed such topics with my Dad and it was really neat to hear what he had to say about times right before I was born and why that made him so risk averse for the rest of his life.” “By the time our interview was over, I had gained a greater respect for my grandfather. He knew a great deal about economics. I felt like an adult talking to him about the economy and its effects.” Source: Dalton, Peggy. “The use of narrative interview in teaching principles of macroeconomics.” The Journal of Economic Education 41, no. 3 (2010): 252-258. Submission guidelines: Your write-up must be submitted online in iLearn in Week 8, by Friday 30th April (11:00pm). This is a firm deadline, so we recommend that you start this assignment early; experience shows that things often come up unexpectedly week-to-week so make sure you have a contingency. If you submit your assignment later, there is a penalty of 10% of the total mark for every 24 hours up to a maximum of 48 hours after the deadline. Exceptions will be granted for cases in which an application for Special Consideration is made and approved. Please see the instructions available on iLearn under ‘Assessments’ about how to upload an individual assessment task through Turnitin. The Turnitin link can also be found in the ‘Assessments’ block. ECON1021 NARRATIVE INTERVIEW ASSIGNMENT MARKING GUIDE CRITERION FAIL PASS CREDIT DISTINCTION HIGH DISTINCTION Articulation of the economic event Shows non-existent or superficial understanding of the topics/issues and ideas raised in the interview. Demonstrates a basic understanding of the topics/ issues and ideas raised in the interview. Very descriptive and simplistic, rather than evaluative. Demonstrates a good understanding of the topics/ issues and ideas raised in the interview however tendency to summarize rather than evaluate. Demonstrates a good understanding of the topics/issues and ideas raised in the interview with attempts made to be evaluative rather than simply summarizing topics raised. Demonstrates an excellent understanding of the topics/issues and ideas raised in the interview. Consistently broad depth of knowledge and evaluation of topics raised. Synthesis of interview discussion Fails to synthesise and reflect upon the points raised at the interview in any meaningful way. Minimally synthesises and reflects upon the points raised at the interview to provide evidence for a basic overall understanding of the topic. Synthesises and reflects upon the points raised at the interview to provide evidence for a solid overall understanding of the topic. Synthesises and reflects upon the points raised at the interview to provide evidence for a good overall understanding of the topic. Extensively synthesises and reflects upon the points raised at the interview to provide evidence for an excellent overall understanding of the topic, demonstrating independent well-reasoned judgement. Personal reflection and link to macroeconomic concepts Fails to develop any links between the interview responses and economic concepts. Simplistic identification of links between interview responses and economic concepts. Mostly provides information about interview discussions rather than making attempts to link this to economic concepts. Accurately identifies some links between interview responses and economic concepts however this is limited. Accurately and consistently identifies links between interview responses and economic concepts however sometimes in limited detail. Accurately and consistently identifies links between interview responses and economic concepts. This is done in detail, showing extensive student understanding. Writing style Difficult to understand. Poorly constructed sentences. Transitions between paragraphs are absent. Text does not attempt to include all questions addressed in the guidelines. Satisfactorily constructed sentences and writing skills. Confusing or unclear in some sections. Transitions between paragraphs are unclear or missing. Text very loosely addresses the topics/ questions in the guidelines. Clearly constructed sentences with clear transitions between paragraphs. Competent writing skills. Text addresses the topics/ questions in the guidelines, however only in limited detail at times. Well-constructed sentences. Transitions between paragraphs are clear. Excellent writing skills. Text clearly addresses the topics/ questions in the guidelines in a well- developed way. Clearly, originally and persuasively constructed sentences. Transitions between paragraphs are systematic, clear and insightful. Text clearly addresses the elements in the topics/ questions in a well- developed, detailed and systematic way. interview.qxp Conducting an interview Before the Interview: Know what you want to achieve or find out from the interview. Set up the interview in advance in a polite, organised manner. Typically you will telephone your interviewee, introduce yourself and then explain briefly and simply the project you are doing and what you'd like to interview them about. Arrange the time and place and how long the