Reyna Grande’s Distance Between Us and Family immigration story

Reyna Grande’s “Distance Between Us” and Family immigration story

Introduction: Pros and cons of interviews Pros: Interviews allow sociologists to Collect detailed information about a person or a group.

Reyna Grande’s Distance Between Us and Family immigration story

Get to know the interviewee and their context better. For example, if the interview is conducted at the interviewee’s home, researcher gains access to data such as the neighborhood the respondent’s home is located (indicating their social class), how the home is decorated, whether or not family pictures or art is displayed, etc. (If you conduct your interview in your family member’s home, pay attention to that: Are they displaying art work having to do with their ancestry, which family photos are displayed etc.?).

Establish a strong rapport with the interviewee, which can reduce dishonesty. In prestructured interviews, the face-to-face delivery of questions leaves room for clarifications and probing (unlike self-administered questionnaires) Cons: In using the interview method, Researcher has to be very careful to establish rapport to receive truthful answers. A respondent may be more likely to hide their true opinions or feelings, because they may be afraid of offending the interviewer or giving them a negative impression of themselves. The researcher has to spend a considerable amount of time conducting each interview.

Travel expenses may also make the research costly. It may sometimes be difficult to access and recruit willing respondents. Part I. Preparation To prepare, please read Reyna Grande’s “Distance Between Us.” Also, please read the excerpt from George Ritzer’s “Social Research Methods,” especially the part about “interviews” (pp. 83-85). (available under this week’s materials on Canvas) Review the “Writing a Paper” document (on Canvas, under Week 2 materials) to familiarize yourself with rules of spelling, proofreading, plagiarism and citations. Take the extra-credit quiz titled “Spelling, Proofreading, Plagiarism and Citations,” if you haven’t done so already. Part II. Collecting Data Conduct an in-depth interview with at least one of your family members about your family’s immigration history. This could be a grandparent, parent, aunt, uncle or cousin. Please select somebody or multiple family members who have deep knowledge about your family’s history. The interview could be conducted on the phone if necessary but please note it in your paper, if that is the case. Also, if possible, information should be gathered on both mother’s and father’s sides of the family. Ask questions about where your family is from and how they arrived here (in the United States, in California or in Santa Rosa, whichever is available or applicable). Part III. Discussion: Questions on Reyna Grande’s “Distance Between Us” and Your Family’s Immigration History In your paper, please answer the following questions. Please number your answers.