Application: Field Study: Gender Differences, Roles, and Equity Prior to this week, you were asked to arrange to interview one school-age boy and one school-age girl, as well as one adolescent boy and one adolescent girl.
This week, you will interview these children and adolescents with the goal of gaining insights into how young people perceive gender and how expectations or beliefs related to gender influence their lives.
You will write an essay reflecting on the results of the interviews and synthesizing these findings with the information in the Learning Resources this week. Before conducting the interviews, be sure to prepare a list of questions.
You may use the Questionnaire Template below as a starting point, although you may modify the template as you see fit. Questionnaire Template During the interviews, be sure to record notes about the children's and adolescents' answers to the questions as well as any other relevant details or observations.
You will use these notes to write an essay that synthesizes your findings with the information in the Learning Resources as well as reflects on insights gained.
After the interviews, review your notes and consider how what your interviewees shared with you confirms, builds upon, or contrasts with what you read about in the Learning Resources.
Based on your findings, write a 2- to 3-page essay that responds to the following questions:
• Are your findings consistent with the concepts you read about in the Learning Resources? How so? Be specific.
• Do any of your findings conflict with the information presented in the Learning Resources? How so, and why do you think this is? Be specific.
• What insights about how children and adolescents perceive and are affected by gender issues did you gain during the interviews? Did anything surprise you? If so, what, and why?
Questionnaire Template
For the Week 4 Application Assignment, you will interview one school-age boy, one school-age girl, one adolescent girl, and one adolescent boy in order to gain insights into how young people perceive gender.
Use this template as a guide to determine the questions you will ask during the interview. You may add or delete questions as you see fit, but be sure to gather enough information to complete the assignment.
You will use your notes from the four interviews to write a 2-3 page essay synthesizing your findings with the Learning Resources and reflecting on insights gained.
Note: Be sure to adjust the vocabulary you use and the complexity of the questions you ask depending on the age and cognitive abilities of the children and adolescents you interview.
1. In your view, what does it mean to be "masculine"? Do you think it is important for males to be masculine? Why or why not?
2. In your view, what does it mean to be "feminine"? Do you think it is important for females to be feminine? Why or why not?
3. In your opinion, are there certain tasks or jobs that men are usually better at than women? Are there certain tasks or jobs that you think women are usually better at than men? Or do you think men and women are equal?
4. In your daily life (e.g. in school, on sports teams, at club meetings, at church, at afterschool programs, or just playing with friends) do you feel that girls and boys are treated equally? If not, what differences do you notice? How do they make you feel?
5. How would you describe the images of men and women that you see on television shows, read about in books, see in advertisements, etc.? Are men and women portrayed in predictable or stereotypical ways? Do you think these images are accurate? Do you think these images influence the way you think about the roles that males and females play in society?
6. Have you ever felt like you couldn't do something you wanted to do because you were a girl/boy? Why?