Guidelines for the Na
ative Interview Assignment
Hopefully from the start of your study of economics, you have begun seeing how you
and those you encounter in your everyday life are all economic agents, contributing
to the economy and our society. It is sometimes difficult to understand how exactly
the people you know are affected by economic fluctuations and policies. In this
course, you need to interview someone who has experienced an economic downturn
and write a summary of the interview including a personal reflection.
There are two main objectives for this task:
- For you to learn firsthand about a past economic issue and the effect on
people who experienced it.
- For you to use this new knowledge to better understand the economic
decisions in the modern world and their possible impacts.
You should focus on one of the following economic events. You should first research
the event, so you know what happened in
oad terms. You then need to choose
someone who can describe what it was like living through that event and how it
affected them during the event and afterwards. Perhaps this person can be part of
your family, a friend or someone you know through work.
Topics:
•Coronavirus
•Global Financial Crisis
•Early 2000s Latin America Crises
•1997 Asian Financial Crisis
•Early 1990s recession in Australia
•Oil price crises in 1973, 1979
•Great Leap Forward in China XXXXXXXXXX)
•Great Depression
Note that students who conducted an interview previously for this unit or othe
units (e.g. ECON110) MUST choose a completely different topic and their interview
and write-up must be new and different from their previous works.
Possible guiding questions for the person you interview:
The purpose of the interview is to describe the experiences and perspectives of
someone who was affected by the economic event you have chosen. You should start
y choosing someone to interview, either over the phone or in person. You should
then conduct the interview with them, asking the questions below and three of your
own questions about elements of the situation that you find interesting.
You should focus the interview on the person’s:
- employment status (e.g. was the person employed at the time?, what job did
they have?, did they lose their job?)
- family status (e.g. was the person ma
ied/single?, did the person have
children/other people dependent on them?, were they wo
ied how to provide
for them during the economic event?)
- economic obligations (e.g. were they forced to sell their house
elongings? did
they have to leave the place they lived?)
- what they feel about the government’s policies to address the economic event
- how the person’s experiences during this downturn affected how they think
about their subsequent lives and cu
ent events?
You should include some of your own questions based on the situation.
Structure of your essay:
Once your interview is complete, you should write a na
ative using the information
you found out. You should include basic personal information about the person, as
well as descriptions about his or her experiences and perspectives. You should try to
make links between what you find out from the person and the economic concepts
we have discussed so far in the lectures. You should also reflect on your interview by
explaining what you found most interesting about it and how, if at all, it has changed
your perspectives about economics.
Your write-up should follow the structure listed below and should be between 800
and 1000 words. Around 200 of these words should be a reflection on your
experience of the interview, including anything new or interesting you learnt about
the person/event and how the interview relates to topics discussed in the economics
course so far. There is no need for a reference list.
1st paragraph:
Write a short summary of the economic event, based on your research (e.g., from the
internet). There is no need for formal references.
2nd paragraph:
Explain who the interviewee is and why you chose that person to explore the event
you are addressing.
3rd and 4th paragraphs:
Summarise what the person said in the interview using information you gathered as
to their experiences during the economic downturn and how it affected them and
their family. Write what you learned about how their world beliefs (e.g. economic
and political) were affected by the situation and how they think about the economic
event now looking back. Include any other information that came up in response to
your questions that you feel is relevant to understanding this person’s experience of
the economic event you are focusing on.
5th paragraph:
Reflect on how you can link what you learnt from the interview to the economics
topics and issues we have discussed in the lectures. Write about what you found to be
the most interesting part of the interview and if it helped make you think differently
about economic events. You might also like to think about if it has made you think
any differently about the person you interviewed and their life experiences.
The following may help:
“He (the interviewee) believes strongly that learning about our economy is
important in order to understand how things are intertwined: This interview has
definitely influenced my thoughts and interests about learning more about the
economy and also learning about what we can do now to change its cu
ent
situation.”
“I have never really discussed such topics with my Dad and it was really neat to
hear what he had to say about times right before I was born and why that made
him so risk averse for the rest of his life.”
“By the time our interview was over, I had gained a greater respect for my
grandfather. He knew a great deal about economics. I felt like an adult talking to
him about the economy and its effects.”
Source: Dalton, Peggy. “The use of na
ative interview in teaching principles of
macroeconomics.” The Journal of Economic Education 41, no XXXXXXXXXX): XXXXXXXXXX.
Submission guidelines:
Your write-up must be submitted online in iLearn in Week 8, by Friday 30th April
(11:00pm). This is a firm deadline, so we recommend that you start this assignment
early; experience shows that things often come up unexpectedly week-to-week so
make sure you have a contingency. If you submit your assignment later, there is a
penalty of 10% of the total mark for every 24 hours up to a maximum of 48 hours
after the deadline. Exceptions will be granted for cases in which an
application for Special Consideration is made and approved.
Please see the instructions available on iLearn under ‘Assessments’ about how to
upload an individual assessment task through Turnitin. The Turnitin link can also be
found in the ‘Assessments’ block.
ECON1021 NARRATIVE INTERVIEW ASSIGNMENT MARKING GUIDE
CRITERION FAIL PASS CREDIT DISTINCTION HIGH DISTINCTION
Articulation of the
economic event
Shows non-existent or
superficial understanding of the
topics/issues and ideas raised in
the interview.
Demonstrates a basic understanding
of the topics/ issues and ideas raised
in the interview. Very descriptive
and simplistic, rather than
evaluative.
Demonstrates a good
understanding of the topics/
issues and ideas raised in the
interview however tendency
to summarize rather than
evaluate.
Demonstrates a good
understanding of the topics/issues
and ideas raised in the interview
with attempts made to be
evaluative rather than simply
summarizing topics raised.
Demonstrates an excellent
understanding of the topics/issues
and ideas raised in the interview.
Consistently
oad depth of
knowledge and evaluation of topics
aised.
Synthesis of interview
discussion
Fails to synthesise and
eflect upon the points
aised at the interview in
any meaningful way.
Minimally synthesises and
eflects upon the points raised at
the interview to provide
evidence for a basic overall
understanding of the topic.
Synthesises and reflects upon
the points raised at the
interview to provide evidence
for a solid overall
understanding of the topic.
Synthesises and reflects
upon the points raised at
the interview to provide
evidence for a good overall
understanding of the topic.
Extensively synthesises and reflects
upon the points raised at the
interview to provide evidence for
an excellent overall understanding
of the topic, demonstrating
independent well-reasoned
judgement.
Personal reflection and
link to macroeconomic
concepts
Fails to develop any links
etween the interview
esponses and economic
concepts.
Simplistic identification of links
etween interview responses
and economic concepts. Mostly
provides information about
interview discussions rather than
making attempts to link this to
economic concepts.
Accurately identifies some links
etween interview responses
and economic concepts
however this is limited.
Accurately and consistently
identifies links between
interview responses and
economic concepts however
sometimes in limited detail.
Accurately and consistently
identifies links between
interview responses and
economic concepts.
This is done in detail, showing
extensive student understanding.
Writing style Difficult to understand.
Poorly constructed
sentences. Transitions
etween paragraphs are
absent. Text does not
attempt to include all
questions addressed in the
guidelines.
Satisfactorily constructed sentences
and writing skills. Confusing or
unclear in some sections. Transitions
etween paragraphs are unclear or
missing. Text very loosely addresses
the topics/ questions in the
guidelines.
Clearly constructed sentences with
clear transitions between
paragraphs. Competent writing
skills. Text addresses the topics/
questions in the guidelines,
however only in limited detail at
times.
Well-constructed sentences.
Transitions between paragraphs
are clear. Excellent writing skills.
Text clearly addresses the topics/
questions in the guidelines in a
well- developed way.
Clearly, originally and persuasively
constructed sentences. Transitions
etween paragraphs are
systematic, clear and insightful.
Text clearly addresses the elements
in the topics/ questions in a well-
developed, detailed and systematic
way.
interview.qxp
Conducting an interview
Before the Interview:
Know what you want to achieve or find out from the interview.
Set up the interview in advance in a polite, organised manner. Typically you will telephone your
interviewee, introduce yourself and then explain
iefly and simply the project you are doing and
what you'd like to interview them about. A
ange the time and place and how long the