SOCS185 Week 7 Course Project latest 2018 april

SOCS185 (Culture and Society)

Week 7 Course Project

Objectives

Students will complete a three-part Course Project allowing an opportunity to interview a person from another culture, apply what was learned during the interview to specific cultural concepts, and to create a summary.

Week 2 Guidelines

Part 1: Identification of Person to be Interviewed from Another Culture and Culture Overview

Assignment Topic:

Identify a person from another culture (to be interviewed in Part 2) and then provide a overview of their culture by reading about that culture.

Directions:

Identify a person from a culture that is different from yours.

You could identify a person from your course, previous courses, workplace, family, and/or neighborhood.

Research various sources (DeVry library) to gain some background knowledge about this person's culture. You should read material from at least three (3) different credible sources.

Go to DeVry Library Library Services | DeVry University for help on this assignment.

General reference works such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, Wikipedia will not be considered as sources meeting this requirement.

The list could include books, journal articles, industry reports, authoritative websites, manufacturer's sites, or sites from research groups.

Remember, all quotations, paraphrased material, images, graphics, and statistics must be referenced in your report, so make note of all sources while compiling your research!

Summarize key findings from these readings (approximately one page, using bulleted format) citing sources appropriately and listing full references at the end of your summary.

APA format: Three (3) pages total (cover page, 1 page summary in bulleted form, and reference page)

General reference works such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, Wikipedia will not be considered as sources meeting this requirement.

Double spaced

Size 12 font: Times New Roman or Arial

For more guidance on APA, various resources are available

APA Checklist: APA Checklist (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Five type of Heading: http://library.devry.edu/pdfs/Five_Levels_of_Headings.pdf (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

In text citation Examples: http://library.devry.edu/pdfs/In-text_citations.pdf (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

APA Style: Quick Reference guide http://library.devry.edu/pdfs/APA_Style_Reference_Guide.pdf (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

APA Sample Paper: http://library.devry.edu/pdfs/APA_Sample_Paper.pdf (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

For more guidance on Citing Graphics and Images, see

Academic Integrity with Graphics (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Deliverables (what to submit at the end of Week 2):

Identify the person and culture you've selected at the top of the culture summary page, including your relationship to the person and the name of their culture.

Written overview of culture based upon research findings from at least 3 credible sources (APA format including cover page, summary using bulleted format of one page and reference page).

Week 4 Guidelines

Part 2: Interview Questions and Transcript

Assignment Topic:

Develop a set of questions (open-ended) to interview the person from another culture you identified in Week 2 and provide a transcript (written responses) from this interview.

Note: The transcript of the interview will also enable completion of Course Project - Part 3 that is due in Week 7.

Directions:

Interview Question Selection:

Develop a written set of interview questions that you plan to use in your interview.

Review the section below containing Sample Questions: Questions to Ask a Person from Another Culture.

Select 10-12 of these questions (more if you want, but choose at least 10), plus add any other questions that you would like to ask.

You do not need to ask all these questions or ask them in the order you have them listed, as you will find that if you use open-ended questions they naturally lead to other questions based on the person's responses.

Conduct the Interview:

Interview the person identified earlier using the questions you have prepared and drawing on your background knowledge from your research in Week 2.

Although it is very useful to take notes in the interview and/or tape record the interview, you need to be sensitive to how the person may react if you do this as well as to how it will influence you if you are taking notes as you do the interview.

If appropriate and with permission, you may take photos of the person and where they live, pictures of the person's home/workplace/environment/artifacts from the person's story; you may scan in pictures the person has shared with you, or you may draw your own pictures to illustrate points in your story. For this purpose, kindly get Informed Consent. See Sample under Section on Informed Consent.

If the person you conduct the interview with does not want to answer a question, you cannot make them do so.

Keep in mind the code of ethics employed by sociologists. The three main ethical principles that must guide fieldwork are:

acquiring informed consent,

respecting one’s informant’s privacy and dignity, and

doing no harm (protecting them from risk).

Capturing the Interview Information

After the interview, it will be helpful preparation for Week 7’s Part 3 of the Course Project if you take a moment now to note specific sociological concepts being learned in this class that may be related to responses received from your interviewee - especially while the interview is still fresh in your mind!

How to cite an interview:

As a personal interview is not published or “findable,” it should not be included in an APA reference list. Instead, a personal interview should be referenced as a parenthetical citation. For example: (First Name Initial, Last Name, personal communication, Date of Interview).

Sample Questions - Questions to Ask a Person from another Culture

What is your history? What is your home of origin? Why did you/your family settle in _____?

How much do you feel a part of your culture of origin? Do you participate in your cultural community? How?

How closely do you identify with and affiliate with your culture? What are some of your family customs and roles of members within your family? What is your role in your family?

What are the five (5) most important values of your culture (of origin)?

How do people express these values? What would you see someone in your culture do that would let you know that these are their values?

How are people taught these values?

How were you taught your values?

What do you think are the most positive things about being a member of your culture/ethnic group?

Are there any negative things?

What are your family beliefs about around child rearing and discipline?

What are the gender roles in your culture? And in your family?

What is your concept of personal space? What is considered appropriate touch between people of various relationships? (Consider how people greet each other when they are first introduced, when they greet friends, when they greet relatives)

What are the power structures in your family? Is age a factor in who has power? How are decisions made at the family and community level?

Who holds positions of formal power in your culture? Who are the most powerful informal leaders in your community? Who held positions of power in the past?

What religious or spiritual beliefs are influential in your culture and for your family?

What is your concept of health? What are customary health practices and beliefs? Who is responsible for and influences health care? Do you use home or folk remedies, a healer, shaman or some other traditional or spiritual healer?

How can you communicate effectively in your culture? Consider the meaning of tone of voice, gestures, eye-contact, overall body language, terminology used to describe health, face-saving behaviors.

How assimilated into the mainstream culture are members of your family and how well is that accepted by the rest of the family?

How much a part of American culture or society do you feel?

Are these cultural values that are the same or similar to American cultural values or values that help you "fit" or succeed in American culture?

How are your culture's values different from "American" cultural values?

Has this caused any problems for you or people you know? (ask for examples)

How do you/did you deal with this?

Were there or are there difficulties in participating in mainstream American culture/society?

Have you or your family or friends experienced discrimination or negative experiences based on treatment due to your cultural/ethnic group? (Examples).

Identify and verify customs, beliefs, and practices that might be misinterpreted by established institutions within your community e.g. schools, law enforcement, social services, health care providers (this includes beliefs around certain body parts, such as the head, male and female circumcision, cutting or puncturing the skin, transfusions, autopsies)

What do you think are the most important needs of your cultural/ethnic community?

[Adapted from E. Lynch & M. Hanson (1998) Developing Cross-Cultural Competence.]

Informed Consent:

See samples of Informed Consent and Photo Release: Informed Consent._Samples.docx (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Deliverables (what to submit at the end of Week 4):

Written assignment which includes:

Cover Page in APA style

Provide a copy of questions with transcript (answers).

It should be typed, double-spaced, size 12 font: Times New Roman or Arial font

Length of paper (excluding cover and reference page): 2-3 pages

Reference Page: As a personal interview is not published or "findable," it should not be included in an APA reference list.

Week 7 Guidelines

Part 3: Course Project Culture Summary

Assignment Topic:

Present a summary about another culture based on previous readings and the responses from your interview of a person from that culture.

Directions:

Analyze the responses from the interview and present a summary of your findings on the culture of the person you interviewed. This may be in any one of the following formats:

A Written Essay (3-4 pages double spaced, not counting the cover page and reference page).

An Illustrated Essay with photographs/pictures/drawings (images must be cited, the written portion must still be equivalent to the length of the Written Essay option not counting the images).

An illustrated Blog - submit the URL and a printout (PDF) of the blog post

An Adobe Spark Page - submit the URL and a printout (PDF) of the web page

A Video Presentation (record a screen capture video, with audio of you speaking about the content of your PowerPoint slides displayed on your screen (or use similar visual references)) - submit any slides or graphics used along with an .mp4 file for the video.

Podcast-type Audio recording (record a 3-5 minute audio presentation, similar to a podcast, on the subject of your interview and culture summary, addressing all of the points required for this assignment). Submit an outline of your speaking notes, and an .mp3 file for the audio portion.

An audio-narrated PowerPoint file (a set of 10-12 slides with notes and with your voice recorded on each slide to present the material.) See Instructions for Audio PowerPoint in Introduction and Resources > Course Resources.

Select fifteen (15) sociological concepts learned in the course (more if you want, but choose at least 15).

Suggested sociological concepts covered in the course may include: socialization, customs and roles, cultural values, personal space, beliefs, gender roles, religious or spiritual beliefs, power structure, informal leaders in that community, cultural assimilation, cultural adaptation, cultural diffusion, culture shock, discrimination.

Notes about the Format Options

All formats other than the Written Essay must essentially be equivalent to the Written Essay format in the amount of content presented. By allowing you several choices you can be as creative as you like and may choose the format you most prefer. Remember to cite sources, too, regardless of the format of your Week 7 Culture Summary submission.

It is recommended to compose the essay first, and then design your creative-format version using the essay as the basis for the other format option's content. That way, if you happen to run short on time, you can still submit the assignment in the Written Essay format.

For example, after you write the essay first you can then add graphics afterwards to transform the essay into an illustrated essay, blog, or Adobe Spark web page. Similarly, writing the essay first will also expedite creation of PowerPoint slides if you've chosen that format.

Deliverables (what to submit at the end of Week 7):

Summary of your findings on the culture of the person you interviewed. For details on each format, see the Directions section above. This Culture Summary may be completed in any one of the following forms:

A Written Essay (3-4 pages double spaced, exclusive of cover page and reference page).

An Illustrated Essay (with photographs/pictures/drawings).

An illustrated Blog

An Adobe Spark Page

A Video Presentation

Podcast-type Audio recording

An audio-narrated PowerPoint file - a set of 10-12 slides with notes.