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The purpose of this assignment is to learn about cultural differences in marriage and family life, while connecting with international students on campus.  The objectives are:

• Promote interaction between international and domestic students
• Demonstrate an understanding of cultural views of marriage/family life
• Compare cultural differences in marriage and family life

Part 1: Interview 

You will be conducting an interview with an international student on campus.  The purpose of the interview is to learn about cross-cultural differences in marriage and family life.  Think about what topic you would like to know more about…marriage, cohabitation, divorce, singlehood, family living arrangements, etc.  To prepare, write 8-10 questions to guide the interview.  Select from the following or write your own (with approval from the instructor):

• What are the main reasons that people get married in your culture? Do they marry for love?
• What is the typical age that people start dating and get married in your culture?
• How do relationships start?  Are they arranged? What is dating like?
• How do you go about getting engaged in your culture?
• How are multicultural marriages viewed in your culture?
• How important is it that you marry someone of the same race? …the same religion? Please explain.
• Describe your family living situation.
• What is the typical family size? Who is considered the head of the household?
• How important is family?
• How does your culture view divorce?  What does it mean to be a divorced person in your culture?
• How does your culture view single parenting?
• How does your culture view cohabitation?
• How does your culture view adults who remain single?
• What family rituals or traditions are important to you?

During the interview, you are to ask questions, listen, and take notes (you may record with permission of the interviewee, but that is not required).  You may not get to every question on your list, and you certainly may ask follow up questions to the comments made by the interviewee.

Part 2: Interview Summary

As soon as you can after the interview, you should type up the interview summary from your sets of notes.  Write down everything you remember about the responses.   Use a pseudonym for the student (not the real name).  Include the age and home country of the student.  Please include the following heading at the top of your interview summary: An Interview with _____ (pseudonym), age _____, from ______
Date and Location of Interview: ______

Part 3: Analysis and Reflection Paper

The following questions should guide your reflection:

• What topics did you want to learn about and why? (1 introductory paragraph)
• How do the views of this student on marriage, divorce, cohabitation, and/or singlehood reflect the broader views of his/her culture?  Why is knowing about culture important?
• Connect what you have learned from the interviews to our course material. You should include at least three cited references to course material in your reflection.
• How are the student’s views and cultural views on marriage, divorce, cohabitation, and/or singlehood different or similar to your own?  Provide examples and a possible explanation.
• What else would you like to know about this culture in relation to marriage and family? How could you go about learning that?
• Before this interview, how much interaction did you have with international students on campus? What have you learned about international students from this experience?
• Describe what you have learned about conducting interviews.  Were there any surprises during the interview?
• What have you learned about yourself in this process?

On Blackboard’s SafeAssign folder, you will attach two separate files. The first file will be your interview summary (2-3 pages). The second file will be your analysis and reflection paper (3-4 pages, not including bibliography). Your written summary and analysis/reflection must have 1″ margins, Times New Roman font, and be double-spaced. You will turn in TWO files – The Interview Summary and the Analysis and Reflection Paper