Katie+K.+and+Abbie+H.

Katie K. and Abbie H. veteran- Arnold Krater division- 550th Medical Hospital Ship Platoon

toc =**History Interview Questions:

Autobiographical:**
 * 1) When were you born?
 * 2) Where were you born?
 * 3) What were your parents names?
 * 4) Your siblings?

Entering the War:
 * 1) How old were you when you joined the war?
 * 2) Did you finish your schooling before going into the war?
 * 3) What were your service dates?
 * 4) Did you have to go through basic training?
 * 5) What was that like?
 * 6) Were you drafted into the war?
 * 7) Do you think that if you were drafted you would have enlisted in the war at all?

During the War:
 * 1) What branch did you serve in?
 * 2) Which war were you in?
 * 3) What was your role?
 * 4) Where were you stationed?
 * 5) Where you on the ship all day?
 * 6) How many tours if duty did you have?
 * 7) What was your highest rank?
 * 8) What was your most memorable battle?
 * 9) Why?

Family Life:
 * 1) Where any of your family members enlisted in the war at that time?
 * 2) Which ones?
 * 3) How did you communicate with family members back home?
 * 4) Was it hard to be away from your family for that long?

Overview
 * 1) What would you tell young men and women going into war today?
 * 2) If you could ever go back and do your service over, would you?
 * 3) What do you think the hardest part about being in war is?

=**Interview Tips**=

Introduction
Interviews are particularly useful for getting the story behind a participant's experiences. The interviewer can pursue in-depth information around a topic. Interviews may be useful as follow-up to certain respondents to questionnaires, e.g., to further investigate their responses. Usually open-ended questions are asked during interviews. Before you start to design your interview questions and process, clearly articulate to yourself what problem or need is to be addressed using the information to be gathered by the interviews. This helps you keep clear focus on the intent of each question. 

Preparation for Interview

 * 1) **Choose a setting with little distraction.** Avoid loud lights or noises, ensure the interviewee is comfortable (you might ask them if they are), etc. Often, they may feel more comfortable at their own places of work or homes.
 * 2) **Explain the purpose of the interview.**
 * 3) **Address terms of confidentiality.** Note any terms of confidentiality. (Be careful here. Rarely can you absolutely promise anything. Courts may get access to information, in certain circumstances.) Explain who will get access to their answers and how their answers will be analyzed. If their comments are to be used as quotes, get their written permission to do so.[|See getting informed consent.]
 * 4) **Explain the format of the interview.** Explain the type of interview you are conducting and its nature. If you want them to ask questions, specify if they're to do so as they have them or wait until the end of the interview.
 * 5) **Indicate how long the interview usually takes.**
 * 6) **Tell them how to get in touch with you later if they want to.**
 * 7) **Ask them if they have any questions** before you both get started with the interview.
 * 8) **Don't count on your memory to recall their answers.** Ask for permission to record the interview or bring along someone to take notes.

Types of Interviews

 * 1) **Informal, conversational interview** - no predetermined questions are asked, in order to remain as open and adaptable as possible to the interviewee's nature and priorities; during the interview, the interviewer "goes with the flow".
 * 2) **General interview guide approach -** the guide approach is intended to ensure that the same general areas of information are collected from each interviewee; this provides more focus than the conversational approach, but still allows a degree of freedom and adaptability in getting information from the interviewee./LI>
 * 3) **Standardized, open-ended interview -** here, the same open-ended questions are asked to all interviewees (an open-ended question is where respondents are free to choose how to answer the question, i.e., they don't select "yes" or "no" or provide a numeric rating, etc.); this approach facilitates faster interviews that can be more easily analyzed and compared.
 * 4) **Closed, fixed-response interview -** where all interviewees are asked the same questions and asked to choose answers from among the same set of alternatives. This format is useful for those not practiced in interviewing.

Types of Topics in Questions
Patton notes six kinds of questions. One can ask questions about: Note that the above questions can be asked in terms of past, present or future. 
 * 1) **Behaviors -** about what a person has done or is doing
 * 2) **Opinions/values -** about what a person thinks about a topic
 * 3) **Feelings -** note that respondents sometimes respond with "I think ..." so be careful to note that you're looking for feelings
 * 4) **Knowledge -** to get facts about a topic
 * 5) **Sensory -** about what people have seen, touched, heard, tasted or smelled
 * 6) **Background/demographics -** standard background questions, such as age, education, etc.

Sequence of Questions

 * 1) **Get the respondents involved in the interview as soon as possible.**
 * 2) **Before asking about controversial matters (such as feelings and conclusions), first ask about some facts.** With this approach, respondents can more easily engage in the interview before warming up to more personal matters.
 * 3) **Intersperse fact-based questions throughout the interview** to avoid long lists of fact-based questions, which tends to leave respondents disengaged.
 * 4) **Ask questions about the present before questions about the past or future.** It's usually easier for them to talk about the present and then work into the past or future.
 * 5) **The last questions might be to allow respondents to provide any other information they prefer to add and their impressions of the interview.**



Wording of Questions

 * 1) **Wording should be open-ended.** Respondents should be able to choose their own terms when answering questions.
 * 2) **Questions should be as neutral as possible.** Avoid wording that might influence answers, e.g., evocative, judgmental wording.
 * 3) **Questions should be asked one at a time.**
 * 4) **Questions should be worded clearly.** This includes knowing any terms particular to the program or the respondents' culture.
 * 5) **Be careful asking "why" questions.** This type of question infers a cause-effect relationship that may not truly exist. These questions may also cause respondents to feel defensive, e.g., that they have to justify their response, which may inhibit their responses to this and future questions.

Conducting Interview

 * 1) **Occasionally verify the tape recorder (if used) is working.**
 * 2) **Ask one question at a time.**
 * 3) **Attempt to remain as neutral as possible.** That is, don't show strong emotional reactions to their responses. Patton suggests to act as if "you've heard it all before."
 * 4) **Encourage responses** with occasional nods of the head, "uh huh"s, etc.
 * 5) **Be careful about the appearance when note taking.** That is, if you jump to take a note, it may appear as if you're surprised or very pleased about an answer, which may influence answers to future questions.
 * 6) **Provide transition between major topics**, e.g., "we've been talking about (some topic) and now I'd like to move on to (another topic)."
 * 7) **Don't lose control of the interview.** This can occur when respondents stray to another topic, take so long to answer a question that times begins to run out, or even begin asking questions to the interviewer.

Immediately After Interview

 * 1) **Verify if the tape recorder, if used, worked throughout the interview.**
 * 2) **Make any notes on your written notes,** e.g., to clarify any scratchings, ensure pages are numbered, fill out any notes that don't make senses, etc.
 * 3) **Write down any observations made during the interview.** For example, where did the interview occur and when, was the respondent particularly nervous at any time? Were there any surprises during the interview? Did the tape recorder break?

http://managementhelp.org/evaluatn/intrview.htm

Writing a Narrative Essay
There's nothing like //reading// a great narrative. Whether in novel or essay form, a narrative piece of writing transports readers into the time and space of the world portrayed by the writing. There's also nothing like //writing// a great narrative. Through reflecting upon an event, and through recreating the experience for other readers, writing a narrative essay can enable you to develop new, subtle, and rewarding perspectives.
 * Basic qualities of a narrative essay:**
 * A narrative essay is a piece of writing that recreates an experience through time.
 * A narrative essay can be based on one of your own experiences, either past or present, or it can be based on the experiences of someone else.
 * In addition to telling a story, a narrative essay also communicates a main idea or a lesson learned.

First steps for writing a narrative essay:

 * Identify the experience that you want to write about.
 * Think about why the experience is significant.
 * Spend a good deal of time drafting your recollections about the details of the experience.
 * Create an outline of the basic parts of your narrative.

Writing about the experience:

 * Using your outline, describe each part of your narrative.
 * Rather than telling your readers what happened, use vivid details and descriptions to actually recreate the experience for your readers.
 * Think like your readers. Try to remember that the information you present is the only information your readers have about the experiences.
 * Always keep in mind that all of the small and seemingly unimportant details known to you are not necessarily known to your readers.

Communicating the significance of the experience:

 * It's often effective to begin your narrative with a paragraph that introduces the experience and communicates the significance. This technique guarantees that your readers will understand the significance of the experience as they progess through the narrative.
 * Another effective technique is to begin the essay by jumping directly into the narrative and then ending the essay with a paragraph communicating the significance of the experience. This approach allows your readers to develop their own understanding of the experience through the body of the essay and then more deeply connect to your expression of the significance at the end.
 * You might also consider introducing the experience in the first paragraph but delaying your expression of the significance of the experience until the end of the essay. This approach heightens your readers' sensitivity to the significance of the narrative.

Revising your narrative essay:

 * After spending time away from the draft of your narrative essay, read through the essay and think about whether the writing effectively recreates the experience for your readers.
 * Ask other people to read through the essay and offer their impressions.
 * Identify where more details and descriptions are needed.
 * Identify and consider removing any information that seems to distract from the focus and main narrative of the essay.
 * Think about whether you've presented information in the most affective order.

Potential prompts for your narrative essay:
If you're having trouble choosing an experience to write about, take a quick glance through these prompts. They might help you remember or identify a particularly interesting or significant experience to focus on.
 * **A childhood event**. Think of an experience when you learned something for the first time, or when you realized how important someone was for you.
 * **Achieving a goal**. Think about a particularly meaningful achievement in your life. This could be something as seemingly minor as achieving a good grade on a difficult assignment, or this could be something with more long-lasting effects, like getting the job you desired or getting into the best school to which you applied.
 * **A failure**. Think about a time when you did not perform as well as you had wanted. Focusing on an experience like this can result in rewarding reflections about the positive emerging from the negative.
 * **A good or bad deed**. Think about a time when you did or did not stand up for yourself or someone else in the face of adversity or challenge.
 * **A change in your life**. Think about a time when something significant changed in your life. This could be anything from a move across town to a major change in a relationship to the birth or death of a loved one.
 * **A realization**. Think about a time when you experienced a realization. This could be anything from understanding a complicated math equation to gaining a deeper understanding of a philosophical issue or life situation.

http://www.writeexpress.com/narrative-essay.html