Family Interview

 1. Your interviewee’s background/demographic information. For example: When and where were you born? Who comprised your family? Where did your family live? If you immigrated to the U.S., why did you come here? Where did you land? What type of work did people in your family do for a living?  2. Patterns and changing patterns in the family. For example: What was child rearing like in your family? How did it differ from today? What important lessons did parents teach their children? What kind of discipline was used with children? What was your schooling like? What were the major political and social events that happened during your lifetime? What sorts of technology did you use that we no longer use? How did your family support themselves? How did you spend your leisure time? What was courtship like? How did your interviewee meet his/her mate? What factors were important to them when selecting a mate? If married, when and whom did you marry? If children, how many? At what age? How were gender roles for women and men different than they are today? What were the most important family values to the older generations?  3. Essential beliefs and values of the interviewee. For example: What did success” mean? What was the hardest thing they had to face? What do they see as their greatest achievements? Is there anything they wish they had done differently? What advice would they want to give young people today? What was the most important thing they learned in their life?