Oral History piece

Oral History for the Qualitative Researcher by Valerie J. Janesick.
Reflection
        Janesick defines oral history as ".....the collection of stories and reminiscences of a person or persons who have firsthand knowledge of any number of experiences" and it is defined as  " Historical information, usually tape-recorded or videotaped, obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge." by http://www.thefreedictionary.com/oral+history.  Regardless of the source, the definition seems simple enough. I am going to interview someone and ask them to tell me stories about their childhood. That seemed easy to me. That was my thought on the project until I read the piece and realized there was more to it then that.

        There is a purpose to asking questions. We want to know lots of details so we can get a complete picture of how things were in the time frame they are speaking of. We want to use their life experiences to support or not support our ideas of the past, present, and future. These stories can help us understand why things are the way they are today.  We are talking about feminism, so I have decided to interview my great aunt. I hope to hear stories that show how she grew up as a female in the 1930's and 1940's.  We need to collect data as if we were doing research to prove a hypothesis.
         Interviewing is just one of the many ways that we can learn about someone's life experiences. We can also observe body language, tone of voice, facial expressions, and look at old pictures to get the complete picture of the story being told. Like a researcher we need to take in all this data and analyze it to see exactly what it is telling us.
        I found the analogy about the dancer and choreographer useful because it gave me a visual image of what I am trying to accomplish with the oral history project. I am also hoping that the explanations of techniques and tips will prove to be successful when I am diving into this journey .
        What started out as a source of stress for me as taken a turn and I am now excited about finding out about my aunt's history. I no longer feel like a student completing an assignment, I feel more like a dancer being taught by a well choreographed story.