Successful Interview: Jane's Story of Quitting Drug Addiction - Essay Sample

Introduction

A successful interview involves the collection of critical information from the respondent which can be used for drawing conclusions. From the ethnographic interview with my interviewee, Jane, I satisfactorily think I evoked crucial data from her which can be used for educating other drug addicts to quit drinking. I managed to create a friendly environment with Jane that made her comfortable and contributed to her willingness to share deeper information of herself and her family at large. I managed to convince Jane to share her personal story which includes the reasons that made her start drinking at the age of eight. The good connection I created between Jane and me enabled her to share some significant information about the pressure she received from her family and friends to start drinking. Jane was open during the interview. The trust between us (Jane and I) grew, pushing her to give key information about her low level of education and how she lost herself in the process of enjoying the homemade liquor. My ability to ask relevant questions regarding her (Jane) and giving her ample time to exhaust her feedback drove her to give extra information that I had no intentions of asking. The openness created room for the sharing of more data compared to what was expected from her.

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Things to Be Done Differently During the Interview

Introduce Myself and Project Interview Questions To the Respondent

I would have started the interviewing process by identifying myself as a former alcoholic and project the interview questions to the respondent (Jane). Introducing myself as an alcohol user would create a connection between the respondent and me where she would view me as her former liquor member to generate free sharing of past .experiences. The projection of the questions would involve naming a variety of contemporary liquors and identify the different tastes of alcoholic drinks. In projecting the questions, I would softly ask her to name the different types of home liquors that her great grandfather and grandmother used to brew. The projection of questions gives the respondent the ability to recollect her different tastes and feelings she got while drinking and gives details of all the events that excited her.

Research on the Respondent and Create a Backup Plan

Before the interview, I would have thoroughly researched concerning Jane to have a clue about her past and present life. The knowledge and understanding of her past life would create more questions for the interview depending on the responses she would give during the interview. It would also facilitate relevant questioning during the interview where suggestions are made for her to build on by reflecting on previous experiences. With research on Jane, it would also help create a backup plan of different questions and suggestions for her during the interview. The backup plan is effective where a respondent finds it hard to answer questions as previously projected to her. The backup gives the interviewee a second thought to open up differently.

Forgotten Areas During the Interview

Jane's Nuclear Family

The interview concentrated on Jane's extended family by focusing on her great grandfather and grandmother. In case a chance popped up to interview Jane for a second time, I would ask her to give details of her nuclear family. The nuclear family will involve the relationship between her husband and the ties she had with her children if she had one. At no point did the interview reveal if Jane's husband and children were alcoholic

Comparison of Past and Present Drinking Lifestyle

Jane is seventy years and she is blessed to have witnessed both the previous and the present clubbing style. I would softly ask her to give a comparison of the early and present drinking lifestyle. The comparison would enable the recipient of the data to identify the modification that has been done to the present drinking lifestyle which sets it different from the early years. I would also engage Jane to give details of the specific things which made her quit drinking rather than generalizing all the factors.

The Connection Between Me and Jane

The connection between Jane and I was significantly strong. The good environment I created for her during the interview enabled her to openly give confidential data regarding her and the extended family. The good connection enabled Jane to reveal how her grandfather used to escape the local authorities with no coincidence.

The Difficult Part of the Interview

The most difficult part to deal with during the interview was the narration on how Jane was pressured at an early age of eight to consume alcohol and how lack of knowledge among family members led to erroneous assumptions. Jane narrated this with a lot of pains. It was a difficult memory for her to deal with during the interview.

Reason for Difficulties

It is quite unfortunate that at the early age of eight years, Jane was already an alcoholic. It is a very tender age where Jane had no clues of what really addiction was and how it would affect her life. The lack of knowledge is also another disturbing factor that made her family give the wrong description of her grandmother's illness. She states that her grandmother was diagnosed with Dementia but since her family lacked proper education they described her to have lost her mind.

Lessons Learnt From the Interview

The primary lesson learned is that the environment in which a person is raised has a significant influence on his or her life. Jane's family was immersed in alcohol and that led to her joining them in drinking. The other lesson is that peer pressure plays a key role in the actions of an individual. Jane narrated that her drinking was due to the immense pressure she received from friends and family members. Jane says that she was never the delinquent and that the problem was the people around her.

Emotions Generated During the Interview

Negative Emotions

The primary negative emotion generated during the interview was how pressure led to Jane's drinking habit. She regrets her past and wishes things were different in her early childhood. She also showed pains when narrating how her affection for beautiful and successful people diminished.

Positive Emotions

Jane showed positivity in her life after addiction. Her decision to quit drinking without visiting any rehabilitation center gave her a lot of positivity to push on. She also feels happy to have had an opportunity to share her painful story to the public at large. She believes her story can inspire other drug addicts to seek medical and psychological help to quit their drinking habits.