My First Interview

Interview Process

In preparing for and conducting the interview there were many steps and processes to go through. These steps may include but are not limited to:

1. Determine objectives of interview
2. Determine questions for interview
3. Find interviewees to interview
4. Set up time for interview
5. Conduct and record interview
6. Thank interviewee for interview
7. Transcribe interview
8. Research country
9. Write outlines for interview report and country report
10. Write interview report and country report
11. Post to blog and go to class

I prepared for the interview with steps 1-4. I conducted the interview by meeting my interviewee in a public, quiet place and bought him a pop. We began conversing, only small talk, and then I pulled out my phone and asked if it would be alright if I recorded the conversation. After he agreed to this I started recording and again asked him if I could record the conversation (this time on tape). After conducting the interview, I thanked my interviewee multiple times and he thanked me for the soda. Next came the transcribing. I spread this process out over 3-4 sessions, simply because it is a very time consuming process. Next came time for research. I checked out a book from the library and checked out some online resources. I then wrote out the two outlines and using the outlines, I wrote the two papers. Then I posted them and got ready for class.

Country Report

My interviewee was from Nigeria. I’ve never been to Nigeria and it seemed like a place very different to where I am from. I learned many things in my research of Nigeria. I learned things about Nigeria’s physical characteristics, its people, its economy and other strange facts.

Did you know that Nigeria is located in Western Africa, bordering the Gulf of Guinea, between Benin and Cameroon? It’s about twice the size of California. Bordering countries include Benin, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. Nigeria has over 850 kilometers along the Atlantic Ocean. Nigeria has three climates. Nigeria is equatorial in the southern part, tropical in the central part, and arid in the northern part. The highest point in Nigeria is called Chapel Waddi, which is over two kilometers above sea level. Nigeria has lots of natural resources; some of which include natural gas, petroleum, tin, iron ore, coal, limestone, niobium, lead, zinc, and farmable land. Nigeria is a hard place to live in with all the natural disasters it has. Nigeria suffers from periodic droughts during the dry season and flooding during the rainy season. The Niger River flows from the northwest part of the country to its delta in the Gulf of Guinea.

There are a lot of people who live in Nigeria; over 152,000,000 according to a 2011 estimate. That many people will make it the eight most populated country in the world. Out of all those people, less than four percent will be sixty-five years of age or older. That makes Nigeria a very young country. According to a 2010 estimate the average age is less than twenty years old. A similar estimate states that over forty percent of the people are fourteen or younger.

Unfortunately Nigeria has a few things working against it. Nigeria has a very high death rate, one of the top 5 in the world. Nigeria also has a negative migration rate and a high infant mortality rate. The infant mortality rate is in the top ten out of all the countries in the world. This mean Nigeria has a lot of babies that die right after being born. In 2007 Nigeria had an estimated 2.6 million people living with HIV/AIDS and was ranked third in the world for the most people living with HIV/AIDS. In 2007 Nigeria was also ranked third in the category of HIV/AIDS related deaths with 170,000. A 2007 estimate put seventy percent of the population under the poverty line, with a literacy rate of only sixty-eight percent of the whole population.

I also found out that Nigeria has more than 250 ethnic groups and over 500 languages in use. Luckily English is the national language so one does not have to learn all of these languages to buy and sell goods. Surprisingly, ninety percent of these people belong in just two religious groups, Muslim and Christian.

Nigeria has a huge labor force. Its labor force was estimated to be around 48.33 million in 2010. A 2007 estimated unemployment rate of 4.9 percent isn’t very high, but it also isn’t very good either.

I found that Nigeria’s agricultural products include: “cocoa, peanuts, cotton, palm oil, corn, rice, sorghum, millet, cassava (tapioca), yams, rubber, cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, timber, and fish.” (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ni.html#top) Their industrial products include: “crude oil, coal, tin, columbite; rubber products, wood; hides and skins, textiles, cement and other construction materials, food products, footwear, chemicals, fertilizer, printing, ceramics, and steel.” (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ni.html#top)

I found out some random things which interested me as well. I found out the Nigeria has 54 airports as of last year, but with only 4 heliports. I also calculated that Nigeria has more than five times the amount of unpaved roads as it has paved roads.

I have learned much about Nigeria since I started my research. I’ve used sources from online and I also read a children’s book on the subject which helps back up what I read online. I am glad I was able to find someone from Africa to interview because the facts you find from this area are really shocking.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ni.html#top visited on 2/26/11

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigeria visited on 2/26/11

Transcription
(Click for transcript)

Interview Personal Review

Looking back at my interview and wondering how things went, starts off with recalling where I wanted them to go. In my interview I wanted to accomplish a few predetermined objectives. These objectives were:

1. During the interview process I would like to learn things from a new culture.
2. I would also like to learn how moving to America has affected their life.
3. I would like to achieve a higher understanding of different perspectives which can in turn open incite to my own life.
4. I would also like the interview to be more informal, so that it seems to be more of a conversation than question and answer session. This way, the person I will be interviewing may answer questions I didn't think of in my brainstorming process.

Looking at my first objective, I would have to say I accomplished this very well. I learned about things they like to do, favorite foods, clothing styles, religions, and a little about the government and how it works.

Looking at my second objective, I would have to say I also accomplished this well. I learned how his thoughts of America have changed since coming here. I also learned about how big of a deal Americans make racism and how it’s not even known about in some places.

My third objective I feel could have been accomplished a little better. I accomplished this goal to a certain extent but I feel as though I learned more about how understanding different perspectives affected my interviewee’s life and not so much my own.

Looking at my fourth objective, I would have to say I accomplished this extremely well. We ended up talking about things I would never have thought of by myself. My interviewee really relaxed and opened up, which helped a lot in my interviewing process.

Overall I would say that this interview was a great success. Even though my third objective wasn’t met right away doesn’t mean that it won’t be met in the future. I learned a great deal in this whole process. I learned about a culture that was entirely new to me, and I learned a great deal about the personal experiences of another individual. If I had to do it all again, I don’t think I would change a thing.