This is a wiki, or collaborative workspace, which we will use in class and independently out of class to create a sample questionnaire for you to use with your subject. The wiki also contains appropriate resources and other information.
We will all contribute questions to this wiki, which will then be edited and ready for you to use. You will need to cut and paste sample questions from the wiki and make your questionnaire. You will need to print a copy to ask the student the questions and have the students write down answers on the questionnaire, which must be included in your submission as an appendix, and submitted with your case study, together with the ethical consent form which the student must also sign.
As the Unit Handbook states, you are asked to interview a British student currently studying at the University of Portsmouth, which then you will write up as a case study of 2,000 words of how the student’s identity, or perceptions of their identity, reflects (or not) roles, attitudes and norms in contemporary British society.
Your case study should begin with an introduction (no more than a paragraph) giving the reader an overall impression of the students, including their age, gender, appearance and family background. You should then locate the student geographically, socially and economically, state where the student was born and brought up, the professions and social status of their family.
After that, to help you organise the study better, you should divide the main part of the essay into four headings: Multiple Identities, Masculinities, Femininities and Cultural Capital. Details and sample questions are to the right of this homepage.
For this essay, you need to analyse your student’s answers in relation to all the contemporary issues and trends in Britain, which we will study during this teaching block, for example, social class, the family, attitudes towards the body, diet and health, the role and status of women in British society, and anything else which your student’s answers show as relevant. To do this, you will need to read on these topics, and include references to background data and information in your essay. Failure to include references to your sources, with correct in-text referencing and bibliography, will result in a lower grade.
The kinds of resources you can use to place your student within the context of wider contemporary British society are the following:
British Social Trends (https://data.gov.uk/dataset/social_trends)
/>Guardian Data Blog (https://www.theguardian.com/data)
/>Office for National Statistics: The 2011 United Kingdom Census
(https://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/census/2011/index.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter)
Introduction:
1. Name
2. Where your student is from.
3. What they your student is studying.
4. Description of your student’s appearance and manner.
5. Your student’s family background and the professions of their parents.
6. Who the student is, who he/she thinks she is, and her place and role in British society
Cultural Capital:
This section is about the student’s education, their level of reading- books, fiction and poetry – and other cultural habits such as music, the cinema and theatre, the type of newspapers they read, and other indicators of “culture” in Britain, such as, for example, whether they speak a foreign language, the sort of television they watch, how much they know about other cultures, how much they have travelled to other countries.
Questions for cultural capital/sub cultural capital
How would you describe your family background (e.g. working class, middle class…)?
What kind of education did you have access to (public school or a school provided by the state system) ?
How many of Shakespeare’s plays have you read or watched?
What other authors do you read, if any? Do you enjoy poetry, or drama or some other genre?
If you read a newspaper, which one?
Where do you usually shop? Which supermarket would you choose if money were not an issue? (Waitrose, ASDA or Tesco)?
What kind of food are you most likely to eat? Do you care about the price, or the quality?
Would you feel comfortable eating in the Ritz in London? Why? Why not?
Do you enjoy listening to classical music? What compositions by classical composers such as Beethoven or Elgar are you familiar with?
Have you attended a performace at a theatre or concert hall in the past five years?
What sort of books do you like to read outside of the ones set for your degree programme? Do you have any preferred authors?
Have you studied any foreign languages? Do you think it is important to be familiar with a language which is not English?
Which of the following radio channels would you prefer to listen to: Radio Five Live, Talksport, Radio 4, Radio 3 Radio 1, or another channel available on digital radio?
How much time do you spend watching TV per day? Which television stations do you prefer; BBC1, BBC2, Channel 4, BBC 4 or another channel available on satellite or cable TV?
Femininities
Whether you are interviewing a man or a woman, you need to find out about how they view and understand the role and place of women in Britain, and accepted norms concerning how women are meant to behave, dress and act.
Questions for a man: (to discover what he understands women and their role in society and the family)
1. If and when you marry, would you feel it is acceptable to go to a pub or club on your own, and for your wife to do the same?
2. Do you feel comfortable with a woman retaining her own name after marriage?
3. How would you feel if your girlfriend became drunk on a regular basis or used bad language with your parents?
4. If you and your partner were to have children, would you expect her to continue to work full-time, or to switch to part-time work, or would you become a full-time primary carer?
4. Would you feel happy or unhappy if your wife or girlfriend was overweight?
5. How do you feel about women adorning their bodies with tattoos? Would you be comfortable with your own partner doing this?
6. Which of the following women do you most admire and why? a. Cheryl Cole b. Ellen MacArthur c. Nigella Lawson d. Kate Middleton (Duchess of Cambridge) e. Theresa May.
7. From the following British models and celebrities, who would be your ideal, if any: Victoria Beckham, Kate Moss, Adele, Coleen Rooney
8. Would you expect your wife or partner to be able to cook?
9. Do you think women have attained genuine equality in the workplace, and in society? If not, why not?
10. Would you feel happy if your partner had, or wanted to have, plastic surgery?
Questions for a woman: (to discover what she understands about being a woman and her role in society and the family)
You will need to ask similar questions about appearance, the role of the woman in the home and attitudes to success at work and having children.
Question for a woman :
1.How do attributes and attitudes towards feminities differ from your grandmother and your mother: for example, is there a contrast between the education they received?
2. Would you like to get married, or do you feel it is not necessary?
3. How do you envisage your life changing when and if you do get married?
4. If you and your partner were to have children, would you continue to work full-time, or would you switch to part-time work, or would you become a full-time primary carer?
5. Would you change your name to that of your husband’s or would you retain your own name?
6.Which of the following would you prefer: Going out for drinks with a group of girls or going for a quiet dinner with your boyfriend?
7. Would you have a tattoo?
8. Are fashion and make-up important to you?
9. Do images of women in the media and advertising influence your style, or your attitude towards your appearance?
10. When you graduate and enter the workforce, do you anticipate any difficulties with discrimination or sexism? Have you already encountered such difficulties, and how?
11. Which of the following women do you most identify with or would be a role model for you? a. Cheryl Cole b. Ellen MacArthur c. Nigella Lawson d. Kate Middleton (Duchess of Cambridge) e. Theresa May.
12. Would you consider having plastic surgery?
13. Is there any other British female celebrity or woman in public life that you admire? Why?
Masculinities
Questions about masculinity
Whether you are interviewing a man or a woman, you should find out their attitudes to the role and function of men in Britain today and what the concept of “masculinity” means in modern Britain.
Questions for a woman (to discover what she understands about men and their role in society and the family today)
1. Would you expect your husband or partner to take equal responsibility for housework, cooking and domestic chores?
2. Would you expect your husband or partner to be comfortable if you earned a higher salary than he?
3. If circumstances demanded it, would you be happy with your partner as a househusband and assuming the main responsibility for taking care of the home and the children?
3. Do you feel that men are depicted fairly in the media, television programmes and advertisements?
4. Do you think a man should take care of his appearance, dress fashionably and use cosmetics such as moisturiser?
5. How do you feel about the man being the breadwinner ?
Questions for a man (to discover what he understands about men and their role in society and the family)
1. Do you think any of the following terms apply to you: new man, metrosexual, bloke, or lad?
2. Which of the following would you do willingly for your wife or partner? Cooking, housework, or babysitting?
3. Do you envisage becoming a father? How do you view the role of fatherhood?
4. If circumstances demanded it, would you be happy with being a househusband and assuming the main responsibility for taking care of the home and the children?
5. If your wife or partner’s salary was higher than yours, how would you feel about it? Why?
6. Are appearance and fashion important to you? What proportion of your time and money do you spend on grooming and clothes?
7. Would you have a tattoo?
8. Which of the following men do you admire, or might see as a role model? a. David Beckham b. Richard Branson c. Brian Cox d. Jeremy Clarkson
9. Are there any other men in public life that you admire? Why?
10. Are there any differences in expectations of what men should be and what they should do between your generation and your father’s generation?
Multiple Identities
This section of the essay is about the components which make up the student’s identity, such as their regional background, family background, beliefs – religious, political or other – interests and hobbies, career aspirations and ambitions.
1. Which part of the U.K. are you from? Is regional or local identity important to you?
2. Can you describe the neighbourhood or district where you were brought up? (find out the postcode if possible).
3. Do you practice a religion, or have any specfic religious beliefs?
4. What were the reasons for your choice of degree programme?
5. Which profession or job would you ideally like to enter when you graduate?
6. What are your interests outside of your degree programme? Do you belong to any societies or associations?
7. Do you practice, or follow, any kind of sport?
8. Do you follow political issues and current affairs?
9. What is your attitude towards food and diet? Are you a vegetarian, for example?
10. Now that you are a student, how important is your immediate family and also your grandparents?
11. How often are you in touch with friends from school, are they still important in your life?
12. How do you use social media such as Instagram or Facebook? Do you present a certain image on these networks?
Resources
Conclusion
As with Assessment 1, you should summarise all your findings in a brief conclusion.
This should then be followed by a hundred word reflection on your feelings about this assignment and what you have learnt form it.