Blog Post 18

Brigit Bauma

Eng 3029

Professor Chandler

October 22^nd

Short Analysis Draft

            In class we previously did an assignment based on oral histories. Oral histories are a verbal documentation of a conversation between an interviewer and their subject. In this little assignment we paired off in groups to talk about our experiences with September 11^th. There was a designated interviewer and subject that were to remain constant throughout the assignment. The interviewer as well as the subject was to take notes through out the interview. Afterward the class discussed their experience with the assignment. As homework for the next class we were given written instructions as to what our blog posts were supposed to be based on the oral histories. This is what the post said:
911 interviews. After this introduction you worked in pairs to conduct oral history interviews about experiences on 911. One of you was the interviewer, one of you was the subject - and BOTH of you took notes. I stopped you several times to catch up with your note taking. You were instructed to note what was said by both, the timing and sequence of the unfolding information, how the speakers interacted, and descriptions of "what happened" as the interview progressed. You were instructed to write down as much as you could as you were talking, and you were given several spaces of time during and after the interview to add your "head notes" (what you remembered) to your notes. All of these notes taken together should be posted on your blog. IN ADDITION - Blog 3 should include (at the end, or added to the main post in a different color font) and other stories, observations, "quotes" conversations that you remembered as you thought back on the interview. 
For next class:
Read: Methods/best practices for collecting oral histories http://www.oralhistory.org/do-oral-history/principles-and-practices/
Blog 3: Post your notes to your 911 interview (see 911 interviews above for complete directions). Title your blog "Blog 3: Interviewer (name), Subject (name) where you fill in (name) with the name of the participant in your group.

This blog post gives the instructions as to what the students were supposed for the interviews and the assignment due for the next class. When we came in next class we noticed every one had written their blog post in a different way. It was a very interesting outcome, but brought up the question: What are the different ways that the oral histories were recorded and what is their effectiveness in getting information for analysis? This essay will try to get an answer to that question.

            Break Down of Assignment:

            First thing that I did was I took the assignment given by the instructor and broke down the different parts. The assignment was the “911 interviews” which had instructions on what the teacher was asking for. She asked for one interviewer and one subject who would remain constant. Next she asked for both to take notes and these notes consisted of descriptions of what happened. What was said, sequence of unfolding information, and interactions were examples given. Then they were to end with writing head notes of what each individual remembered of the interview and add any of these afterthoughts at the end or in a different color.  The “official” assignment for next class was to post our notes, but to “see above” for more detail.

            Coding:

            After going through the breakdown of what the students were to do I went through each of the student's blog for that day and broke them down into a few main codes. I had the role of each person: Interviewer and Subject. The Inveriewer asked the questions while the Subjects answered the questions. Next I had the forms that they were written in: Q&A and Paragraph. Q&A stands for Question and Answer. This is where the writer wrote down the questions and under the questions the answers were recorded. Paragraph is where the writer wrote their blog in a paragraph or paragraphs. With each form I took note if there were references to what was said with answers/quotes/questions (Said), if there was an order (Sequence), and if there was interaction and connection between the interviewer and subject (Interaction). Then I looked to see if they had Afterthoughts. If they did I looked where the Afterthoughts were added: Beginning or End. Afterthoughts help with analyzing data because they show how the subject and interviewer were feeling during the session, which can be used as part of analyzing the data.

            Categories:

	Interviewer	Subject	Q&A Form	Paragraph Form	Said (Quotes and Questions)	Sequence (Beginning and End)	Interaction (Both Parties)	Afterthoughts?	Beginning	End
Andrea		Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes		Yes
Valerie		Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Brigit		Yes	Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes		Yes
Corrine	Yes		Yes		Yes	Yes
Sara	Yes		Yes		Yes	Yes		Yes		Yes
Tshandi		Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes		Yes	Yes
Shana	Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes		Yes
Rachel	Yes			Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Nahimot		Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (All)
Liana		Yes		Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Kelsee	Yes			Yes	Yes		Yes	Yes		Yes
Josh		Yes		Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes		Yes
Generra	Yes		Yes		Yes	Yes		Yes		Yes

            Hypothesis:

            By looking at the data and the break down of the assignment my hypothesis is that the blog posts with a Q&A format with a Paragraph of reflection (Afterthoughts) would be the most effective form for getting information.   

            Patterns:

            Based on my findings it seems that that many of the Q&A formats were not as effective as paragraphs because Q&A doesn't get the interactions between the two parties. You only really get one side of the story. With the Paragraph format, the writers are able to give both sides of the stories and their interactions. However, with the paragraphs you don’t get full range of questions asked so that you can fully analyze the data. Some are missing what was Said, some are missing Sequence, some are missing Interactions. It doesn't seem to be a reliable form by itself. Another thing I noticed is that all blogs in which the Afterthoughts are at the Beginning are in Paragraph forms. Afterthoughts at the beginning do not complete the assignment that was given. However, that doesn’t make the blog not effective to analyze the data. I also noticed the only blog that did not include an Afterthought was a Q&A format.

            When looking at the chart there are six students who completed the assignment so that they would be effective enough to analyze. These students are highlighted. Of each of these students two used Q&A, three used Paragraph and one used a combination of both. When looking a back on each blog post I noticed something very intriguing. The Paragraph forms that were effective had elements of the Q&A forms. They directly stated questions and quotes as well as answers, much like a Q&A would. Also, almost all of the blogs had Afterthoughts, which of course help with analyzing data.

Another thing that I noticed was 4 out of the 6 students who had effective data were subjects. This could be because these students were not focused on asking questions and getting answers. They were focused on their answer, their own feelings, the interviewer’s reaction and the interviewer’s feelings. Maybe to get more effective data the best way to do it is to focus not so much so on the questions and answers, but on the interaction and thoughts during and after the interview. If you aren’t focused on the questions you ask and getting the information you get more out of the interview. It could be better to have a device to record the interview so that one focuses on the interaction while still getting information through the questions and answers asked.

            Conclusion:

            This supports my hypothesis that blog posts with a Q&A format with a Paragraph of reflection (Afterthoughts) would be the most effective form for analysis. The students who completed all of the requirements had a few different forms however they all had elements of a Q&A format, making that most effective. It is also important to include a Paragraph of Afterthoughts so that connections can be made and thoughts of the interview can be recorded. In this way data can be analyzed because it includes what was said and their thoughts/reactions during the interview. This helps if someone wanted to write a paper using the 9/11 oral histories. Recorded the other ways, the information given is not effective or detailed enough so that information can be analyzed and gathered to create a research question and hypothesis. The best way to go about this would be to record your questions and answers with a device that would record what is said while you focus on the interactions and feelings between interviewer and subject.

            Limitations:

            The professor’s assignment said two different things. In the “911 Interview” part it calls for all of the requirements needed for the assignment. However, in the “for next class” part she says to post your notes. Yes it does say to refer to “911 Interview” for the full assignment; however some students would just see what they need for next week and just post their notes as is. They wouldn’t look at the structure asked for and the requirements needed to complete the whole assignment. It might have been better to have those requirements repeated in the “for next class” part. Another limitation may have been that one of our assignments was to read how to do an oral history. Those who read the assignment before writing their blog may have written their blog like the reading assignment calls for rather than what the teacher was asking for. This is reiterated in the professor’s blog post in the paragraph before the “911 Interviews” where “oral histories” are discussed. It may have confused the students as to what the professor wanted/ what was the correct way to write an oral history.