Child Interview Essay Example

Dan: I have quite a number, oooh but the most exciting one was when we went for camping during the end year holiday with my parents and Ben over there.

Me: ok, go ahead and share with me what it felt like, the entire experience and try not to leave anything out.

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Dan: I remember it was on the weekend and we left in the morning passed through a stall near the roadside and stock enough for the entire period that we would be away. I picked a lot of candies since I didn't want to miss any of that while I was away. I had never slept outside in a tent, and it was my first time. It was freezing, but I miss that experience. With the fire blazing and worming us, daddy scared me with the monster stories he told. I was so scared I could not leave his side.

Me: Go ahead Dan, now tell me the best moment you had and what you learned out of it.

Dan: Daddy kept me company till I fell asleep. On waking up, I realized Ben was missing. We had to go looking for him in the wood. I was afraid of monsters that I could not let anything bad happen to my white dog. We called him out for so long without any response. I got worried, but as soon as we approach the river banks, I heard a bark. I was confident that it was him. He was floating with his head high against the water current. We had to save him. I watch daddy struggle pulling him out of the river. At some point, daddy almost flipped into the river since the banks were very slippery. I kept on shouting "daddy be careful." I run back to the tents to inform mum of what was going on. Mummy left whatever she was doing picked a rope and a towel. Ben was still stuck in the river, and he was getting weaker. At some point, I thought of diving into the river, but that was not a good idea since I had never swum before. Luckily dad got a piece of wood and tied it to a rope, and amazingly Ben clung to the wood and he was pulled out. Mummy wrapped him in the towel. Thanks to dad and mum, they brought back my ben

Me: that was a pleasant experience I guess you now know how best to take care of him. My preparation activities for the interview first include contemplation of how best to explain my intention and precisely what I expect of the child and the parents and come up with a clear roadmap on how to achieve them. The preparation will ensure I obtain the best out of the interview. I had to identify the interest and experiences that the child has about different aspects of his past life events to ensure I do not elicit controversial, emotional instincts.

The experiences and interests of the child significantly influence the child's concentration during the interview process, much concentration and participation are manifested when a child enjoys the conversation. I planned my journey in advanced and ensured on the day of the interview in arriving in their home before he comes back from school first to engage his parents and ensure the establishment of a favorable atmosphere for the interview before his arrival (Turner, 2004).

In mind, I prepared answers to routine questions that might be posed during the interview and also structured some few question that I thought would help in obtaining sensitive information from the interviewee. As the interviewer, I had to know who exactly I was going to interview to avoid mix-ups. Finally, I did some few types of research on my topic of discussion to ensure I'm well informed on whatever we were going to talk on.

Since my interview involved an audio recording for transcription purpose, I adopted a face to face interview approach. Compared to other sources of interview approaches, face to face maximizes the utilization of social cues of the interviewee such as body language, voice, and intonation (Poole, 2016). Face to face interviewing approach also allows for audio recording with the approval of the interviewee. Time accuracy between question and answers is also among the advantages of the approach. Some of the disadvantages of the approach include the time pressure usually exerted on the respondent. Geographical location which requires both the interviewer and the interviewee to converge at a specific point make the approach complicated physically

At the beginning of the interview, I first introduced myself, cracked a joke to ensure that Dan is not in any way tensed and at ease. I had to ensure that the conversation stays alive by avoiding rapid questions that may clam up the interviewee. In the posses I endured, I was engaged in the conversation by seizing all opportunities that required my response and this helped me in keeping the conversation going.

At some point Dan interrupted the interview claiming, he was angry, and he had to take something is when we continue with the interview. At some point, I experienced inconsistency in the narration because he was mixing up events causing a lot of confusion. Fatigue was also a significant challenge at some point especially at the end of the conversation thus limiting the concentration level, and quality of the interview was also affected.

Dan's age significantly contributed to the inconsistency I detected during the interview since he was not well conversant with the syntax for identifying the previous experience. The challenge was in the organization of the story experience which required the framing of the unraveled episode in line with time. Dan's age was not dependent on the ability of a child to depend on conversation patterns to construct stories. At his age, he was capable of establishing a clear internal illustration of the experience, and this boosted his performance during the interview.

At some point during the interview, Dan felt frustrated since his mum did not remember a particular event which happened when they went for camping. This distraught Dan since his mum could not reflect the story back. I decided to engage the mother in the interview to provoke any hidden part of the experience and provoke most of his emotional experiences.

The child did not report any of the information that I was concerned about its accuracy. I was on the watch closely monitoring the sensitivity and reaction of the mother who stands to correct him whenever he deviates from the main topic. There was not any detail of the report that I was not certain with what had happened. During the interview period, I discovered that the child narrative force was greatly propelled by the attentive ambiance we created with minimum interruptions. The child continued to open up after he realized that everybody was interested in what he was saying. Paying attention to a child while they narrate a story to has a significant effect on stimulating the child's cognitive and emotional instincts.

It is vital to include adults to get involved in the children's group setting to ensure the creation and utilization of a variety of conversational patterns this usually boost a child's ability to engage in storytelling. As language learners children mostly love to share their memories of the past, this helps in developing their identity at early stages and also builds his self-confidence and ability to develop their narrative voice.

Reference

Friesen, N. (2016). Media Transatlantic: Developments in Media and Communication Studies between North American and German-speaking Europe. California: Springer.

Joyce, D. (2015). Internet Freedom and Human Rights. New York: New York University School of Law.

Laura. (2017, January 31st ). Retrieved from https://sites.nd.edu/visconsi-holland/2017/01/31/friedrich-kittler-the-history-of-communication-media/

Poole, D. A. (2016). Interviewing children: The science of conversation in forensic contexts.

Poole, D. A. (2016). Interviewing children: The science of conversation in forensic contexts. American Psychological Association.

Robyn Fivush, C. A. (2003). Autobiographical Memory and the Construction of A Narrative Self: Developmental and Cultural Perspectives. Atlanta: Psychology Press.

Turner, T. S. (2004). Behavioral Interview Guide: A Practical, Structured Approach for Conducting Effective Selection Interviews. New York: Trafford Publishing.

Winthrop-Young, G. (2013). Kittler and the Media. Columbia: John Wiley & Sons.