University Midlife Interview Discussion Post

I’m working on a health & medical discussion question and need an explanation to help me study.

Instructions

You will be submitting at least two posts. Submit your Part 1 initial response postto the discussion questions by Wednesday, Apr 14th before 11:59pm and then submit your Part 2 reply post to at least one groupmate’s post by Friday, Apr 16th before 11:59pm. You are welcome and encouraged to submit more than one reply post. You must submit your Part 1 before the Wednesday 11:59pm deadline to be eligible to earn any credit for this discussion board (Part 1 or Part 2).

Check to ensure you have done all of the below:

• Your posts need to be original and add something new to the discussion that hasn’t been said by a groupmate.
• Make sure you have met the minimum word requirements for each post
  • at least 150 words for Part 1; at least 100 words for Part 2

• APA citations and references are not required for discussion posts.
• Write in complete sentences. Proofread your post to ensure you have fully answered all the discussion questions in a nonjudgmental manner and have not made any typos or grammar errors.

Midlife Interview

In order to participate in this discussion you will first need to conduct a short interview with someone in midlife/middle adulthood. Here are the guidelines you’ll need to follow and the questions you should ask:

1. The person must be between the ages of 40 and 65yrs old.
   • They can be related to you or not related to you (e.g., parent, aunt, spouse, friend’s parent, coworker, friend).
   • Have a back-up person in mind in case your original interviewee cancels, changes their mind etc…
2. Schedule a date and time for the interview in advance. I wouldn’t suggest starting the conversation by saying that you want to interview them because they are in midlife (some people are sensitive about this term &/or their age). You may want to simply say that you need to interview someone for a class assignment and think that they would be perfect for it.
3. Conduct the interview in person, over the telephone, or via Skype/FaceTime. DO NOT conduct it via email, text, or IM.
4. The interview should take at least 20 minutes. (Feel free to make it longer if both you and your interviewee are interested and have time.)
5. Prepare for the interview ahead of time by having your questions chosen and written/typed up with spaces to write notes. Choose an order of questions so that you are beginning and ending on a happy subject (you may need to adjust this on the spot during the interview).
6. Make sure to put your interviewee at ease. Let them know you are just interested in their thoughts and opinions and that there are no right or wrong answers. Remember to let your interviewee know that they are free to skip any questions they’d prefer not to answer (so make sure to have back-up questions on hand if they do this!).
7. Avoid preconceived notions that you think you already know everything about the person or know how they’ll answer a question as these can alter the tone of the interview.
8. Ask probing questions if your interviewee answers with yes/no or short answers. Attempt to have them expand their answer and get more details.
9. Take notes during the interview to help you when you go to write your Part 1 discussion post.
10. Ask at least 4 of the questions below as well as making sure you know the person’s age.
    • How do you spend your free time today? How is this similar or different to how you would spend free time earlier in your life?
    • What is your greatest accomplishment in life so far?
    • If you had the opportunity to go back and change anything about your life, would you? If so, what would you change and why? If not, why not?
    • How is your life different today from what you thought it would be like when you were in your early twenties?
    • Have you noticed any physical or cognitive changes in the past 5 or 10 years? If so, what have you noticed and how do you feel about these changes?
    • What advice would you give to the average twenty year old today?
    • What makes you the happiest in your life? And why?
    • If you don’t know this person’s age, make sure you ask. (You may want to ask this first, in the middle or last depending on when you think it will be best.)

Feel free to change the order and wording of these questions. And add in additional questions if you wish.

PART 1 INITIAL RESPONSE POST (5 POINTS, DUE WEDNESDAY BEFORE 11:59PM)

For your Part 1 post, you should write about your interview.

Answer ALL of the following questions in your Part 1 post.

1. Tell your groupmates who you interviewed (e.g., my mother, my boss, my spouse) and how old they were (remember that in order to be eligible for credit they must be between the ages of 40-65yrs old).
2. Then write about at least 2 of the most interesting questions and answersof your interview. Don’t just give us the ‘transcript’ of what you said and what they said. Instead, explain in more detail what they said, and how they said it. (Often, nonverbal behaviors and/or tone of voice can add to you understanding of their answer.)
3. Explain why you felt these 2 questions/answers were most interesting.
   
4. What did you learn from doing this interview? Did it change or reinforce your previous view on midlife/middle adulthood?