O ‌‌‌‍‍‌‍‌‌‍‍‌‍‍‌‌‌‍‍ verview Interview 5-8 parents or caregivers of infants less than 1 year on their views surrounding infant sleeping arrangements (i.e., bed sharing, room sharing, or solitary sleeping). If you decide to interview couples, interview the each individual separately. You will then analyze your data and write a 4-5 page paper which situates your research findings into the broader scientific/academic discussion on cosleeping. Important information on ethnographic interviews – When interviewing the parents or caregivers, remember that it doesn’t matter what you think! A good interviewer will not tell parents what they should or should not be doing. You want to hear what they think and why they think it. You views should not come into play. The interviewee should never feel judged or like they are doing something that you disagree with. If they feel that way, they will likely alter how they respond to your questions. Ideally, you should finish the interview without them knowing what or how you personally feel about the topic. However, even you don’t tell parents your views on the topic, your views can still influence the interview. Pay attention to how you ask the questions? Do they sound biased one way or another? For example, consider the difference between these two questions: Recent research suggests that cosleeping may reduce the rate of SIDS rather than be the cause of it. Do you think that cosleeping is beneficial or detrimental? Do you think that infants should cosleep or sleep in their own rooms? [Then follow-up] Can you tell me why you feel that way? Example Interview Questions: Where does your infant sleep? Why do they sleep there? What influenced your decision to share your bed, room, or to have your infant sleep in another room? [If the interviewee is married or has a partner] Did you and your spouse/partner discuss sleeping arrangements prior to the infant coming home? What did you discuss? Did you agree with each other? What was your experience growing up? Did you cosleep? Did you have your own room? Do you remember how you felt about your experience as a child? Did anyone (e.g., your infant’s pediatrician, your mother, friends) offer advice about where your infant should sleep? What was that advice and why did you or did you not follow it? How many children do you have? Have you followed the same pattern for all of the children? Why or why not? Do y ‌‌‌‍‍‌‍‌‌‍‍‌‍‍‌‌‌‍‍ ou ever make exceptions to your pattern (e.g., allow the infant to cosleep or put the infant in his or her own room)? When and why have you made those exceptions? Are there benefits to the sleeping arrangement you have chosen? Rules and Regulations: I highly recommend that you conduct these interviews in-person. However, if that is not possible, you may conduct them over the phone, Skype, Facetime, etc., but they may NOT be conducted over email or in any written form. You need to talk to the person you are interviewing. It allows you the opportunity to present follow-up questions, ask for clarification, or even clarify your question to the interviewee. Though you are not doing a critique for this assignment, you can refer to Lesson 1B for tips on writing in general. Your paper needs to have a minimum of 5 primary, academic sources, but more is better. You must use in-text citations. You will fail the assignment if you do not have any of the following: including citations, references, a reference page (works-cited/bibliography). So please pay attention to this part of the assignment. The project is about connecting what you learn from your ethnographic interviews to the broader discussion occurring in the scientific community on co-sleeping. Therefore, your interviews are only ½ of the project. You should present summary information on your sample (e.g., how many individuals, what percent were men v. women, what percent bed-shared, room shared, had their infant sleep in another room, etc.). Did you focus on a specific culture, ethnic group, or population? Your final paper should be a 4-5 page paper (double spaced, 12 pt. font, 1 inch margins– check the format guide). The paper should have the following sections: Introduction – describe your project The literature review – Review the literature on co-sleeping and how it relates to your ethnographic project. Results – Summarize what you found (diversity and uniformity in responses). Use your interview data to support your statements. Discussion – Link your research results to the broader discussion of infant sleeping arrangements and care-giving in early infancy. A reference page Include interview notes – You must also scan or type up your interview questions and notes for each interview. These notes should be appended to your paper. This is not included in the 4-5 page limit, but is a requirement. You must submit you ‌‌‌‍‍‌‍‌‌‍‍‌‍‍‌‌‌‍‍ r interview notes.