INTERVIEW

INTERVIEW DRAFT:

What social environment do you study best in? 

What do you think makes science based subjects a topic you devote a lot of time to when studying? 

What do you think makes history based subjects a topic you don’t devote that much time to studying? 

When you’re studying, do you take breaks in between? 

When studying, do you verbally talk out loud or you just use memorization and talk in your head?

How do you decide what subject to devote the most studying time to, or what factors?

Do you like background noise while you study?  

Do you formulate a study plan ahead before you study or do you just go with the flow? 

What do you think are the benefits of studying alone? 

What do you think are the benefits of studying with other people? 

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT:

-Hello.  Um, we’re exploring preferred study tools, and I would love to hear about your favorites. Would you be interested in sharing your insights? 

-Yeah. 

-Okay. Um, well let’s start. What social environment do you study best in? 

-Well, I don’t really study in social environments, cause I find them to be too distracting, so I normally find a Private room and study by myself.

-Awesome.  Um, what do you think makes science based subjects a topic you devote a lot of time to when studying? 

 -I think what makes them, um, me devote a lot of time to them is there’s a lot of different parts and terms that you have to memorize. And there’s just different parts to the different systems. 

-Okay.  What do you think makes history based subjects a topic you don’t devote that much time to studying? 

-I believe I don’t devote much time because I personally don’t have many classes that involve history. I feel like it just comes naturally to me. 

-Okay.  When you’re studying, do you take breaks in between? 

-Yes, I do like to take breaks. I normally study for about 30 minutes and then take about a 10 to 20 minute break so I can give my mind that time to recoup and  have that information settle in my head. 

-That sounds good.  When studying, do you verbally talk out loud or you just use memorization and talk in your head?

-I normally use memorization, but sometimes I’ll talk out loud without even realizing it.  

-Okay. How do you decide what subject to devote the most studying time to, or what factors?

-Some factors would be if the subject is pretty difficult, and if I have a lot to study for, so say like the exams are bigger, or the quizzes are, and it depends what kind of grade I have in the class as well. 

-Do you like background noise while you study?  

-It depends on how much I want to get done. Sometimes I’ll play some music, sometimes I’ll sit in silence and just focus on what I’m trying to study.  

-Do you formulate a study plan ahead before you study or do you just go with the flow? 

-I like to form somewhat of a plan, like if I have quizlets or kahoots that I can play and then looking over my notes and then sometimes I’ll just jump right into it.

-Okay.  What do you think are the benefits of studying alone?  

-I think the benefits are that you don’t have distractions, or as many distractions as you would if you were with someone.  And something along the lines of, you can focus more, I guess. 

-Okay. And the last one, what do you think are the benefits of studying with other people? 

-The benefits of studying with other people, I would say, um, they can help you as well. Like, they can quiz you, other than you trying to quiz yourself. So, it can possibly help you memorize things better.  

-Okay.  Well, thank you so much. 

-Of course.

INTERVIEW REFLECTION:

This is the first time I interviewed someone and my expectations were pretty low on if I was

going to do it right. Once I met with the person I was interviewing, I gave him a small

introduction on what the interview was about, told him a little bit about the CODES program

and what our teachers were expecting us to learn from this assignment.

I felt pretty comfortable because we were in a small study room which is a quiet place and

we were both committed to do it right. I feel that the fact that I gave him a little introduction

first, gave him the confidence that he needed to answer the questions as smoothly as he did.

His answers were genuine and pretty straight too, which means that he answered based on

his experience and he wasn’t overthinking the answers.

I consider that there is always room for improvement but I think that my questions were

pretty straight forward and there was no room to misunderstand the questions and give a

wrong answer. The only thing that I really did not enjoy listening to was my reactions to his

answers, I would like to change that.

While I was transcribing my interview I noticed that it took me a while to do it. Once I was

listening to the questions and the answers, I noticed that my reaction to his answers was

kind of awkward and short even though I was feeling pretty comfortable. I think that there

was not much to add to his answers that is why I did not say much. I would like to improve

how I approach the people I interview and work on my confidence.