Questions and Topics We Can Help You To Answer:
Paper Instructions:

The case study project will involve writing an approximately 3 page paper (12 point font; double-spaced) in which you take the theory and research on a specific topic in the textbook (ideas below), develop hypotheses about what to expect if you interview ONE friend, family member, or acquaintance about it, do the interview, report on the interview, and discuss the extent to which the results support or do not support the hypotheses and previous research. The purposes of the project are to use course theories, concepts, and research findings to formulate and test hypotheses about the development of a single human being, to gain first‑hand experience in conducting developmental research, and to use critical thinking skills to interpret the data you collect in relation to theory and previous research. Interviewing an adolescent or adult (you can interview a college friend, your mother or father or grandparent, a sibling, etc.) requires planning a set of 4-6 main open-ended questions that will allow you to test your hypotheses. Hypotheses should based on what previous theory and research leads us to expect of a person of the age and/or life situation of the person you decide to interview. You will take detailed notes on responses so that you can convey the answers in your paper. Important: Design open‑ended questions that encourage people to express their thoughts and feelings rather than yes-no questions or rating scales that do not, and don’t be afraid to follow-up on a question to better pin down what the person is saying.

A lot of the good topics come later in the course—for example, achievement motivation (ch 10), gender role development (ch. 12), Erikson’s themes of identity, intimacy, or generativity and midlife issues (ch. 11), vocational choice and development (ch. 11), moral thinking in response to moral dilemmas (ch 13), attachment styles in childhood and romantic relationships (ch. 14); peer influence (ch. 14); parenting styles and their implications for development (ch. 15), depression (ch. 16), bereavement (ch. 17). There are good topics earlier in the course as well—e.g., asking a retired adult about aspects of aging such as physical aging (ch. 5), perception (ch. 6), or memory (ch. 8). You could ask a person about their current life and/or ask them to recall earlier experiences. (Your hypothesis could, for example, concern the influence of early parent-child relationships on current functioning.) Read the relevant text material carefully before you interview, using it as the basis for developing your questions. Your main goal is to apply the course material in designing your project and in interpreting its findings.

Your report should be organized as follows: (1) Introduction (Briefly introduce your topic and the relevant theory/research that’s guiding you, e.g., outlining the relevant states of someone’s theory, stating hypotheses about what should be expected of an individual this age based on the textbook and other course material); (2) Methods and Results (Provide basic information about the person(s) studied such as age and life circumstances and then report your questions and your interviewee’s answers; provide the exact questions you asked and a fairly complete summary of the answers you obtained); (3) Analysis (Interpret what you found. Explicitly use relevant theory, concepts, and research findings to analyze how consistent or inconsistent your case study findings are with the relevant theory and research. Show that you understand and can apply course concepts appropriately and cite applicable text material to justify your interpretations of your findings as either supporting or not supporting hypotheses.) You will have to write succinctly and use the three pages prudently.

You must cite the textbook in this paper. You can do that saying “text” and citing the specific page ‑‑ e.g., after summarizing some aspect of the course material that is relevant, say (text, p. ___), or a study by Smith and Jones (2010; text, p.___), or (chapter 11 ppt), or (moral development handout). If you are referring to a specific study cited in the text, put its author(s) and date in parentheses in your paper along with the textbook page number (but you do not have to type the reference at the end of the paper).

If you use any outside material, whether print or online (you don’t have to and normally will not), provide full references at the end of the paper and make clear in the paper where you are citing your source. In describing any questions you use in the project, make very clear what you made up yourself and what you got from the text or a website or elsewhere. The project must, of course, be your own work used only for this course.

Grading of the projects will be based on the quality of your hypotheses and questions; the clarity and of your presentation; and, most importantly, your ability to interpret it all, connect it to specific course concepts and findings, and demonstrate that you can thoughtfully and critically apply developmental theory and research to a real person. The quality of your analysis is crucial. For example, rather than just claiming that a person is in Stage X or that the influence of parenting on your interviewee supports what the text says about parent influence, show what evidence in the interview led you to that conclusion and cite and make it clear that you understand the relevant text material.