SYA 4930 - Sociology of Youth & Emerging Adulthood
Written Assignment Options
Instructions: Below are numerous options. Complete two options of your choice and turn them in on Wed. 4/25 (or they can be dropped off to my office no later than 4pm on Thursday, 4/26).
Format for each of your Written Assignments (staple them separately): Type, using 10-12 point font (arial, times new roman, geneva, or helvetica ONLY), single-spaced, 1 inch margins. Don’t try to finagle with 1.2"margins, 13 pt. font, etc. I can tell! Pages should be numbered with your last name & page # in the top right hand corner of all pages, beginning with the second page.
STAPLE it all together with your Name, UFID#, and the Date in the top Right corner of the first page (no cover sheet).
Grading: 20 points possible for each Assignment.
18-20: A- Outstanding, Superior Work
16-17: B- Very Good
14-15: C- Completed Requirements
12-13: D- Requirements Not Fulfilled
11 and below: E- Unacceptable
The following will increase your grade:
-Connections to other concepts
-Creativity/Innovation/Spark/Intelligence (I called this "wow")
-Significant Effort (way above and beyond)
The following may reduce your grade:
-Late projects
-Incorrect format
-Very poor grammar and excessive/distracting spelling errors
-Falls into structural-functionalism and/or positivism
Notes:
You can refer to yourself in the first person (use “I”). It is not so formal that you say, “the researcher.” You can approach your project writeup as if it’s an insightful conversation with one of your classmates or myself. Use pseudonyms for anyone you interview or mention in your assignment other than yourself.
Your work should be sophisticated & intelligent, but also simplistic enough that you could explain it to your grandmother or little brother.
Be careful of falling into use of “structural-functional” language and terminology
AVOID REIFICATION!
Need Help? Confused?
You are welcome to contact me during my office hours in person, by email, or via AIM. I am happy to discuss this assignment with you-- you can bounce your ideas off of me and I can clarify any questions you may have. I am also willing to look over your work to confirm that you're on the right track.
OPTIONS:
Habitats of Adolescents
Spend some time (4-10 hours) observing adolescents in their natural habitats (e.g., at the mall, at schools, at sports activities). Make notes about your observations. Reflect on these questions:
How do adolescents spend their free time? For example, who are they with? How do they interact?
What questions did your observation raise for you? What would you like to ask the adolescents about their behaviors, thoughts, feelings, etc.?
One approach to this option is to do the field work activity outlined by Lin Logan (1996), email me for a copy of the article. In her course on adolescent development, she and her students visit a local mall and observe and survey adolescents about a number of topics. Logan contends that it is through this “experiential” learning that her students learn what is currently popular with adolescents, as well as gain insight about their own attitudes and beliefs about adolescents.
Historical Perspectives on Adolescence
We began this course by examining adolescence from a cultural and historical perspective. To learn about the lives of adolescents in previous decades, interview two people-- someone who is 40-50 years old and someone who is 70-90+ years old. In your interviews, find out how their experiences of adolescence were different from the experiences of today's adolescent. Following is a list of some questions -- however, feel free to add in some of your own.
1. Did you attend high school? Did you want to? What kinds of subjects did you study? What kind of homework did you have?
2. What was your cultural background? What were the traditions that your family celebrated? How did your cultural background influence you?
3. What was your family life like during your teenage years? What were the expectations for teenagers with their relationships with their family (e.g., mother, father, siblings, grandparents)?
4. Did you work as an adolescent? If yes, where did you work? How many hours a week? Did you contribute to the family income? Did you want to work?
5. What kind of clothes did you wear? What were the "in" styles at that time? Were you concerned about fashion?
6. Who were your friends? How did you and your friends spend your free time? What were the popular teen "hangouts?”
7. What were the problems you confronted as a teenager?
8. What do you think are the critical issues that distinguish teenagers today from teens during your time? What do you think of today's teens?
Turn in transcripts of both interviews as well as a summary and reflection paper, discussing what your interviewees said, as they relate to the readings and class discussions.
Read a book
Choose a book that you have not read before. If it is not on this list, email me to request approval. Please read the entire book, not the Cliff Notes or SparkNotes or any other summary. Answer the questions below.
1. What is the title of the book, author, and copyright year?
2. Provide a detailed summary of the book. If it is fiction, introduce the characters and briefly review the storyline. If it is nonfiction, summarize the main points made by the author(s) and his/her/their general conclusions and suggestions.
3. Connect at least three concepts that we have discussed in class or in the textbook that relate to issues implicitly or explicitly mentioned in your book. For each concept, provide an explanation/definition and discuss its use in your book.
3. Articulate a critique of the book. For this section, you should include your reactions and assessment of the material presented. Some of the questions you may wish to consider in your critique include the following:
If your book is nonfiction & research based: Did you see any methodological flaws in the study (e.g., sample, measures used, procedures)? In your opinion, do(es) the author(s) omit some important variables? Is the study easy to read and understand? Are there ways in which the study can be improved?
If your book is fiction or nonfiction but not research based: Think critically about the ways in which adolescents and/or emerging adults were portrayed in the book, were they stereotypical or more accurate? How does the information/story of your book relate to other information about young people?
5. Implications: What are the take-home messages about adolescents and/or emerging adults emphasized (explicitly or implicitly) in your book?
Adolescent Music: Identifying Cultural, Moral, and Political Messages
Select 6-12 songs that are popular among adolescents (note: this does not have to be "popular" music, it can be indie or whatever, as long as its popular among some adolescents). Assemble a MP3 file of the songs as well as the lyrics. Please choose songs from various different albums, not all from one CD. Identify the name of the song, the artist, and the album. Discuss the questions below:
1. Describe the music that you have chosen. What are the lyrics? How is this music marketed? What is the cover on the CD? How do you think the culture impacted the choice of artwork and/or the way the artist is presented?
2. What do these lyrics communicate to adolescents? What is the cultural significance of this music? What are the cultural, moral, and political messages conveyed? For which cultural group or groups of adolescence is this music intended?
3. What messages about gender, sexuality, race/ethnicity are implicitly or explicitly communicated?
4. Who do you think this music is intended for? Why? What is your evidence? Why might it appeal to adolescents?
Transition from Adolescent to Emerging Adult: Summer Vacation at home
Oftentimes the summer before college and/or the first summer home from college is a stressful time for emerging adult students and their parents.
Talk to two students AND their parent(s) about their experience the summer before leaving for college OR the summer after their first year at college.
Ask them about their living arrangements, what they did during the day, their responsibilities around the house, the rules and expectations (curfew, chores, budget, etc.).
Finally, ask them to offer any advice they might have for students & parents this coming summer.
Produce a detailed summary of your findings (for each family and overall), making connections from their stories to issues we have discussed in class or read in the assigned readings. Create a list of suggestions/advice for parents and students as to how to survive the summer with as little conflict as possible.
What am I going to do with my life? Emerging Adult Angst
Read Ch. 13-15 in This Book is Not Required
Answer the following questions:
1. What does "success" mean to you? What are the messages about "being a success" that are dominant in contemporary American culture? Do these notions of "success" differ from your own definition? If so, how? (Write at least one single spaced page discussing these questions).
2. Answer the following questions by completing the exercises linked below each one. (Note: if there are links to exercises listed, first do the exercises then use your results to help you answer each question. Your response to each question should be no less than 2 good paragraphs).
a. What are your values?
http://www.crc.ufl.edu/courses/cdcpages/syllabi/sls2301_VC.pdf
http://www.crc.ufl.edu/Applications/Services/SelfAssessment/CardSort/index.php
b. What are your life goals?
c. What do you need to achieve your goals?
d. What gifts/talents/skills do you have?
http://www.crc.ufl.edu/courses/cdcpages/syllabi/sls2301_si.pdf
http://www.crc.ufl.edu/services/SelfAssessment/evaluatingskills.php
e. What are you interested in?
http://www.livecareer.com/ (complete this career assessment-- it costs less than $20. The CRC offers another one costs $12, but the results are not as detailed as this one. there may be a free one on www.facts.org)
f. What can you do with your degree in sociology?
http://www.abacon.com/socsite/careers.html
http://www.asanet.org/cs/root/leftnav/careers_and_jobs/careers_in_sociology
http://krypton.mnsu.edu/~keating/career.html
http://maxweber.hunter.cuny.edu/socio/undergr/careers.html
g. What are some of your best fit jobs?
http://www.crc.ufl.edu/courses/cdcpages/syllabi/sls2301_ijd.pdf
http://www.crc.ufl.edu/courses/cdcpages/Documents/sls2302_CE.pdf
h. What are your next steps in pursuing your dreams? (are you going to go to graduate school, get further education or training, look for a job-- will this be your dream job or will it help to "launch" you into your dream job in the future?)
Emerging Adult Selves
Read Ch. 9-10 in This Book is Not Required. If you are from an individualistic society (like the U.S.) gather a group of 3-4 close friends and do the exercises on p. 130-136 of This Book is Not Required.
Record your responses and write about your experience with this activity. Make connections to the readings in the textbook about the self.
Interview with an Adolescent
Introduction and Purpose: This project will give you the chance to encounter some of the issues involving adolescence directly from the source. You will conduct and tape a 20-30 minute interview with an adolescent, transcribe the interview, and analyze its major themes. The interview project should be centered on a theme. For example, you may want to learn more about adolescents' cultural beliefs, political beliefs, religiosity, peer groups, friends, identity, and intimacy. Or, you may want to learn more about adolescents' perceptions of their family members, their teachers, or their schools, and their wishes for their future. Other topics might include adolescent stress and coping, teenage problems, body-image and the media, or academic achievement. You should choose a topic that is covered in your text or has been covered in one of the course readings. You should read the material before conducting the interview.
The purpose of the project is pedagogical; nevertheless, you will be dealing with a real person with real feelings. Further, as we have learned, adolescents are often engaged in a good deal of introspection, which may or may not be painful. Therefore, the ethical guidelines used by psychologists (both researchers and clinicians) must be followed scrupulously. Although you should be able to enjoy this project, you must also approach it with due professionalism. Any actions to the contrary on your part will result in a failing grade on the project.
In the interview, you will be asking questions that probe the adolescent's world, thoughts, and feelings to a small degree. You should have the interview organized to be very structured so that you stay comfortably away from potentially provocative clinical issues. Nevertheless, you will need to treat the interviewee's responses as confidential information to be seen only by you and me.
Selection of Interview Subject: The following guidelines are to be followed in selecting a person to be interviewed. He or she:
1. must be an adolescent (12 to 18 years of age).
2. must agree ahead of time to be interviewed, as per the student consent form to be discussed below. It will also be necessary to have the written consent of a parent or legal guardian.
YOU MUST OBTAIN BOTH PARENTAL AND STUDENT CONSENT. THESE SIGNED CONSENT FORMS MUST BE HANDED IN WITH YOUR FINAL PROJECT.
Informed Consent and Confidentiality: Both the interviewee and their parent(s)/legal guardian(s) must give written permission for the interview to take place. See this page for an example of a consent form: http://irb.ufl.edu/irb02/index.html A permission form must be signed and turned in to me before you will be permitted to conduct the interview.
The adolescent has the right to know what he or she is taking part in and to decline participation based on this knowledge. For this reason, informed consent is the sine qua non of psychological research. The consent forms will explain the nature and purpose of the interview, the right of the interviewee to stop it at any time, and that all information given will be kept strictly anonymous and confidential. It will also explain that you will not be allowed to share the interview with persons who know the child, especially the child's parents.
The Interview and Conducting the Interview: An example of an interview that you might give is below. You may use this exact interview form or develop a similar one based on the topic on which you are focusing. You should write your interview so that you can follow it word by word. Nevertheless, in some cases, you will need to use your own judgment. Always be sensitive to your interviewee: if he or she seems to be getting uncomfortable about a certain topic, change to the next topic on the schedule. Also, if the interviewee starts to disclose too much about his or her private life or about problems being faced, you will need to change to the next topic, explaining that you are not qualified to respond to these matters. If the situation persists, you will need to end the interview. BEFORE CONDUCTING THE INTERVIEW YOU SHOULD OBTAIN MY APPROVAL REGARDING YOUR INTERVIEW FORMAT AND QUESTIONS. PLEASE GIVE ME A COPY OF THE QUESTIONS THAT YOU ARE PLANNING TO ASK.
The Paper: Your submission will have three parts to it: the tape, the transcription, and a written paper. You will need to transcribe verbatim the interview. You should number the questions on your interview so that you will not need to copy them over when you type the transcript.
The paper should be between five and seven pages in length, typed and double-spaced. It is to consist of the following elements:
1. An analysis of the interview questions. Each question or set of questions was selected to illustrate an issue covered in class or in class readings. Identify what each question was getting at: Why was the question included in the interview? What information about adolescence was the question intended to elicit?
2. A summary of how the interview proceeded as a whole. Did it go smoothly or did you encounter some difficulties? How did the interviewee take to the interview? Did he or she provide responses that were rich and informative or brief and stereotypical? What parts of the interview stood out and why? Do you think the interview gave you valid information? Why or why not?
3. A comparison between the interviewee's responses and what you have learned or read about the topic. In class or in your text, certain findings related to these questions have been discussed. How did your interviewee's responses compare to the findings?
This part of the paper will take a fair amount of integration on your part. Try to paint a picture of who your interviewee is, using what you know about adolescent development. You will need to be clear as to why you reached the conclusions you did. Cite evidence from the responses (referring to research articles in your text or discussed in class), providing direct quotes when helpful.
4. Your own observations regarding the interview and the interview process. This part of the paper is for you to discuss freely any thoughts or observations you have about the project and about conducting the interview. As a starting point, you might consider: What about the project was particularly enjoyable or unenjoyable? What did you learn from the project? How do you think the interview might influence your teaching and role as a teacher? Also, if you have questions or criticisms, feel free to mention them here. All I ask from you in this part of the paper is that it is thoughtful and coherent.
Sample Interview
To begin, you will need to introduce the project and take care of some procedural matters. This part of the interview must be taped.
Read the following introduction to the interviewee:
To begin, I want to give you a sense of what we will be doing. My instructor asks that I tape at least this part of our interview, so I will now turn on the tape recorder. I will be asking you nothing personal at this point.
Turn on the tape recorder.
As you know, I am taking a college class about teenagers. For the class, we have been asked to conduct an interview with a teenager. The purpose of the interview is to help me learn more about what teenagers are thinking and what they consider important in their lives.
I will be asking you some questions and am very interested in your honest and thoughtful answers. It is important to me that you answer my questions with your own thoughts, not with what you think others might say or might want you to say.
I won't ask you questions that get very personal, and if you don't want to answer a particular question, just say so and we can go on. Also, at any time you want, you can stop the interview altogether.
Your answers will be kept strictly confidential. Your name or other identifying information will not be associated with any part of this interview.
Now, there are a few procedural matters I need to take care of.
First, have you signed a form giving your consent for me to interview you?
Was there any part of this form that you had questions about or is there anything I can clarify for you?
answer any questions
Next, for the purposes of my class, I would like to tape the rest of the interview, but only if you don't mind. The tape will be heard only by myself and my instructor. Your decision about whether or not I can tape the interview will not affect the interview, and it will not affect how I or my instructor think about you. Also, at any time after the interview begins, you can ask that I turn off the tape recorder.
Now, do you mind if I keep the tape recorder on for the rest of the interview?
respond accordingly
Finally, before we start the interview, do you have any questions about anything I told you?
answer any questions honestly
The first few questions are intended to help you establish some rapport with the interviewee. You can chit-chat at this point, and not feel too constrained about adding in your own two cents. This is the only point in the interview where you can really do this.
How old are you?
What year in high school are you?
All in all, do you like school?
What makes you say that?
What are your favorite parts of school?
What about your least favorite parts?
You know, when I was in high school, we were lucky and had open campus where we could leave any time we didn't have class. Can you do this at your school?
Respond appropriately, or with questions along the lines of:
What times do you have to be at school?
What subjects do you take?
Where's your favorite place to go in the school when you have free time?
Once you feel that you have established some rapport, or after a few minutes, whichever comes first, you can begin in earnest.
Section I
1. While we're on the subject of school, in some schools, there are different groups of students that hang around together, like cliques. Does this happen at your school?
A. Tell me about these groups, I mean, what are they?
B. What are some of the differences between the groups--I mean, what distinguishes the groups?
C. What kinds of things do the students in each group talk about?
For this and the following two questions, you may need to list the different groups given to you, one by one, probing for each group.
D. How do you think teachers or adults view the different groups?
Are there some groups that adults tolerate more than others?
Why?
E. What do you think about the different groups?
2. Now I'd like to concentrate on just one group. Is there one of these groups that you belong to, or that most of your friends belong to, or that you think is more worthwhile than the others?
If yes:
Which group is that? Go on to question 3
If no:
A. Good. I know there are a lot of students who, for various reasons, don't endorse one particular group over another. What are your reasons?
B. Good. Now, for the purposes of this interview, do you mind just picking one group that we can talk about for a few minutes?
If yes: Which group?
Go on to question 3
If no: Okay, let's go on to the next topic.
Go on to section II
3. Now, I'd like to ask you a few questions about this group.
A. Who belongs to this group--boys, girls, or both?
If both:
Do boys and girls always do things together, or are there times when the boys hang around without the girls and the girls hang around without the boys?
What are some of these times?
Are there any particular activities when this happens?
Are there any particular times or activities that the boys and girls do things together?
B. What makes the students in this group stick together--I mean, do they share certain similarities with each other? What are some of these similarities?
Depending on the detail of the answer, you might want to probe for possible similarities. Some areas you can ask about are:
the year in school of the group members
what group members wear
what they talk about
what type of music they listen to
what they think about political issues
what type of background they come from
4. Is there anything else that you'd like to tell me about the different groups at your school? Okay, go ahead.
Section II
Thanks, the interview is going great so far and you are being very helpful. Now I'd like to switch focus a little and instead of talking about groups, talk about friendships and making friends.
5. First I'd like to ask you about what makes students popular with other students. I'm thinking of four things that might make a student popular:
A. How they look, or their appearance
B. Their personality
C. How good of a student they are, or their academic success
D. How good of an athlete they are, or their athletic success
6. Which of these four things is the most important in determining how popular a person is in your high school?
A. Why do you think this is? What makes it important to students?
B. Wouldn't (fill in one not given) also be important? I mean, this is also a way to gain recognition or make friends.
7. What do you think are the most important things a friend should be?
8. What makes a friend a good friend?
9. If you have an argument or disagreement with a friend, how do you handle it? How does your friend handle it?
10. Now, let's move for a moment to people in general, not just friends and anyone else--parents, brothers or sisters, other relatives, teachers, whoever.
A. Who are the two people you feel closest to?
B. What makes you feel close to these people?
Section III
Okay, let's move on to the last part of the interview. You've been really helpful and I appreciate your willingness to share some of your thoughts and ideas with me. In this part of the interview, I want to ask you how you think about certain matters. These questions are a little more personal than the ones I've been asking up to now, although they won't get real personal. Again, if you don't want to answer a question, just say so.
10. First, let's talk about what you might do in the future.
A. As of right now, what do you see yourself doing after high school?
--How sure are you about this?
--Why do you think that this is what you will do?
B. What kind of job do you see yourself having in the future?
C. What do you think will determine the kind of job you eventually get?
11. Next, I want to ask you a few questions about religion.
A. What do you think about religion?
B. How important is religion to you?
Has it always been this way, or have you changed over the years?
If you've changed, why was that?
C. How do you think your parents feel about religion?
D. How do you think your parents feel about your thoughts on religion?
12. What would you say is the major difference that exists between you and your parents?
Can you tell me something about this?
13. What do you think is the biggest problem facing teenagers today?
Why?
14. What do you think is the biggest problem facing the world today?
Why?
What do you think can be done about this problem?
Okay, that's all the questions I have. Before we finish, I want to give you a chance to ask me any questions you might have about the interview.
--Is there anything that you wanted to mention that you didn't have a chance to?
--Do you have any questions about the interview?
Once again, no one will see or hear what you said except for me and my instructor. The reason why I asked to interview you was to learn more about how teenagers think about things like high school groups, friends, and the future. I will use the interview to make a written report about these kinds of things. I'd like to thank you again for taking the time to be interviewed. I enjoyed talking to you and I hope that you had some fun in answering my questions.