Late Adulthood

16 Pages 4061 Words

The purpose of this assignment is to present a case in late adulthood, based on an interview of an older adult, and to analyze that case from a developmental perspective. Through this process, studied theories will be applied to a real situation, and therefore the assignment serves as a means of demonstrating true understanding of developmental theories studied in the classroom. Relevant information gained from research will also be included and applied to the situation, demonstrating understanding of research techniques and the importance of the impact that historical events have on human beings.

Method
The idea of the case study design is to look at one particular subject’s experiences during adulthood, and use that information to apply theories and better understand how people’s lives change over time, and the factors that influence people’s choices and experiences. The method used to gather information was the interview method, specifically a semi-structured clinical interview. That is, the interviewer asked a given set of questions, and also probed the subject’s ideas and reasoning in an open-ended manner by asking him or her to elaborate on his or her responses. In this kind of research, the interviewer must take a very active role.
The interview protocol included an introduction, explaining the purpose of the interview and informing the subject that the discussion would be tape recorded, and that the identity of the individual would be kept confidential. Six specific questions, or variations of them, were then used as the guidelines for the interview. These questions included probes for information about the subject’s most important life events since high school, the most important people in his or her life, historical events that influenced the subject’s life, and the impact of cultural background on the individual. A more detailed transcription of the interview that I conducted can be found in the A...