Life Story Interview

Assignment Guidelines

Due Friday, March 27, 2026 by 11:59 a.m. (noon)

The Life Story Interview (LSI) will:

expose you to the process of conducting research on human development;

give you a glimpse of how the developmental concerns considered in the course may be displayed in people’s life stories; and

provide structure around the HOD core competency of listening as a way to build relationships and gather important data.

The process of this assignment is as follows:

You will be assigned a partner from another lab section. The LSI lecture and LSI assignment workshop will be critical for you to understand and begin this assignment. You may need to set up an additional time to meet with your partner outside of these workshop sessions so that both you and your partner have adequate time to write and reflect before the due date. Each interview will likely need a minimum of one hour. Interview context is very important. We highly recommend a medium that allows you to observe nonverbal communication. Take care to find an interview location where you can minimize distractions and listen well to one another.

Conduct the interview using the protocol below. Daniel McAdams and colleagues developed the protocol, which is now used for many life history narratives. In the interest of managing your workload, we have adapted the original protocol for use in this course.

Record answers to the interview questions as well as any follow-up questions. Write or type field notes to capture responses. If possible, video or audio record the interview.

Transform your written notes into an edited, manageable document. You need not and should not produce a complete transcript of the interview. Instead, select the key moments from your interview that illuminate the important aspects of your subject’s life. Place this in narrative form with both direct quotations and indications of nonverbal behavior. This document is Part One (LSI Data Collection) of the LSI assignment.

In Part Two of the LSI assignment (LSI Reflection), you will critically reflect on your interview in light of course material to better understand your subject’s development and lifespan. Additionally, you will reflect on your own growth and learning over the course of the semester.

Part One: LSI Data Collection (80 pts)

The first part of the LSI assignment is a typed document that presents your LSI data. This should NOT be a complete transcript of everything that you and your interviewee said (as your interview should be about an hour, that would be quite lengthy; Part I of the LSI should be between six and eight double-spaced pages). Instead, it is an edited version that highlights the most important aspects of your conversation, written in such a way as to make both your future use and our grading easier. Structure the document using the order of the interview questions. As you summarize, present the most important quotations and nonverbal behaviors.

Please follow APA guidelines and use appropriate Level-1 or Level-2 headings. You must include:

A brief introduction of the interview and your subject. Provide a clear description of your subject including age, gender, race, relationship status, place of residence, and other pertinent or interesting background details. Also include how you gathered your information and clarify how you will refer to your subject (please do not give full name; either use initials or only the subject’s first name).

The edited data from your interview. This should not be a complete transcript but should instead select the most important quotations and nonverbal elements of your conversation.

Use the headings provided in the LSI protocol to make this more user-friendly for you and your discussion lab instructor. Clearly flag that you have asked and are providing responses for each sub-question under the heading, but make sure that you write this as a narrative account of your experience.

Ensure that you are quoting directly when appropriate (about 40–50% of the total document). The remaining portion should be your narrative experience, summaries of your subject’s responses, nonverbal behaviors, and section summaries.

Be sure to capture many descriptions of nonverbal behaviors. This not only demonstrates the closeness with which you listened to your subject, but it also provides rich context and meaningful details. Include enough detail that the reader has a sense of how your subject acted over the course of the interview and flag any major shifts in demeanor or behavior. Nonverbal cues should be reported non-judgmentally; although you may make inferences about what a particular cue might mean, you should be careful not to ascribe definitive meaning to it. Use language like “this may indicate” or “this could mean that.”

Document any follow-up questions that you asked, as well as the responses.

An example of how you might write up a single question is as follows: When asked about the low point in her life, CM related the story of the passing of her father. She said, “I wasn’t really expecting it to be as hard on me as it was, and even though it happened 5 years ago, I still think about it all the time.” She paused for a moment, and then continued: “It wasn’t sudden, but it was still shocking, if that makes sense. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and died about 10 months after the diagnosis, and it just felt like everything in my life got sad after that for a little while.”

Section summary statements that offer a 3-4 sentence wrap-up or summary of each of the major sections (i.e., the lettered sections) of the LSI. These statements should give a brief synopsis of what your participant said, as well as any meaningful insights you gleaned from the conversation (e.g., When she was asked to consider the major events of her life, CM focused mainly on her family, marking each new phase of her life around a milestone, be it marriage, birth of niece, or leaving for college. It seems clear that she views family as an important anchor and guidepost, and her strongest reactions—both laughter and tears—came when speaking about the members of her immediate family.)

An interview summary paragraph that offers a 4-5 sentence wrap-up or summary of the entire interview, providing insight into how the entire process went (e.g., CM seemed ready to speak about all aspects of her life and did not need to spend any considerable amount of time thinking about her answers, potentially indicating that she had reflected on her life many times before this interview. She seemed generally quite happy to speak about the past and was forthcoming with details as needed, and she was a very pleasant person to speak with. The interview lasted approximately 58 minutes, and CM spent most of that time discussing her siblings and transition to college, with less emphasis placed on early life.)

Part II: LSI Reflection (120 pts)

Part Two of the Life Story Interview presents your reflections on both your interview data and your own growth/learning/development over the course of the semester. Your reflection includes two sections. As with previous written course assignments, you must follow APA guidelines.

Section A: Reflecting on the interview (2 maximum double-spaced pages)

Please reflect on your participant in light of course material.

Choose at least three course concepts/theories that you find relevant to your interviewee’s story. Briefly explain each concept/theory and then, using data from the interview, describe how you believe the interview illustrates the concepts.

Using the same concepts/theories, do you find that any of these seem relevant at more than one point in the life story of your interview participant? If so, why might that be? If not, why might that be? (For instance, do matters of equity or risk-resilience recur in the story? Does some aspect of development appear throughout, or only once?)

Again, using the concepts/theories, comment on any elements of your participant’s life story that you find to be atypical or that do not seem to fit the concepts/theories and why that might (not) be.

Please reflect on the process of conducting the LSI. You may wish to consider some of the following questions. Please note: These are examples of questions that might aid your reflection. You do NOT have to answer all these questions. You may have your own questions and insights that you prefer instead of these.

What was it like to hear the story of someone’s whole life?

If you interviewed someone you did not previously know: Do you think you established an open and trusting relationship with your interviewee? Did the interview feel conversational? Why (not)?

If you interviewed someone you already knew: Did you learn something new about your interviewee? Do you think the protocol had something to do with this? Why (not)?

Were some parts of the interview particularly challenging to conduct? How so?

Section B: Reflecting on your growth and development this semester (2 maximum double-spaced pages)

Please consider your learning and growth this semester. Then, select and answer TWO of the questions below.

Think of some topics we have covered in HOD 1250 that you had previously given thought to. What assumptions or beliefs of yours were confirmed or contradicted this semester?

Think of some topics we have covered in HOD 1250 that you had never previously given thought to. How did learning about these improve your understanding of human development?

Identify three specific things you have learned so far in the course. How will these benefit you in your future academic work? Your personal relationships? Your community involvement?

Reflecting on our course and the LSI assignment, what else would you like to learn about human development? What else might you need to learn about human development? How might you go about exploring your questions/areas?

Conclude your reflection with one important insight or with one open, honest question you are exploring in relation to your own development.

Life Story Interview: Protocol

Revised for HOD 1250 by Dr. Anjali Forber-Pratt & Dr. Jeremy Payne in Fall 2020

Based on the LSI by Dan P. McAdams, The Foley Center for the Study of Lives,

Northwestern University, 2008

Introduction

This is an interview about the story of your life. As a social scientist, I am interested in hearing your story, including parts of the past as you remember them and the future as you imagine it. The story is selective; it does not include everything that has ever happened to you. Instead, I will ask you to focus on a few key things in your life—some important scenes, characters, and ideas. There are no right or wrong answers to my questions. Instead, your task is simply to tell me about some of the most important things that have happened in your life and how you imagine your life developing in the future. I will guide you through the interview so that we finish it all in about an hour.

Please know that my purpose in doing this interview is not to figure out what is wrong with you or to do some kind of deep clinical analysis! Nor should you think of this interview as a “therapy session” of some kind. The interview is for education and research purposes only, and its main goal is simply to hear your story. As a student of social science, I’m learning how to listen to life stories to understand the different ways in which people live their lives and the different ways in which they understand who they are. Everything you say is voluntary and confidential. I will only share the interview with members of the HOD 1250 Teaching Team.

Do you have any questions?

A. Life Chapters

Please begin by thinking about your life as if it were a book or novel. Imagine that the book has a table of contents containing the titles of the main chapters in the story. To begin here, please describe very briefly what the main chapters in the book might be. Please give each chapter a title, tell me just a little bit about what each chapter is about, and say a word or two about how we get from one chapter to the next. As a storyteller here, what you want to do is to give me an overall plot summary of your story, going chapter by chapter. You may have as many chapters as you want, but I would suggest having between about 2 and 7 of them.

[Note to interviewer: The interviewer should feel free to ask questions of clarification and elaboration throughout the interview, but especially in this first part. This first section of the interview should run between 15 and 20 minutes.]

B. Key Scenes in the Life Story

Now that you have described the overall plot outline for your life, I would like you to focus in on a few key scenes that stand out in the story. A key scene would be an event or specific incident that occurred at a particular time and place. Consider a key scene to be a moment in your life story that stands out for a particular reason—perhaps because it was especially good or bad, particularly vivid, important, or memorable. For each of the three key events we will consider, I ask that you describe in detail what happened, when and where it happened, who was involved, and what you were thinking and feeling in the event. In addition, I ask that you tell me why you think this particular scene is important or significant in your life. What does the scene say about you as a person? Please be specific.

Positive Childhood Scene. Please describe a scene, episode, or moment from your childhood that stands out as an especially positive experience. This might be the high point scene of your entire life, or else an especially happy, joyous, exciting, or wonderful moment in the story. Please describe this positive scene in detail. What happened, when and where, who was there, and what were you thinking and feeling? Also, please say a word or two about why you think this particular moment was so good and what the scene may say about who you were or who you are.

Negative Childhood Scene. The second scene is the opposite of the first. Thinking back over your childhood, please identify a scene that stands out as a negative experience or even a low point. Even though this event is unpleasant, I would appreciate your providing as much detail as you can about it. What happened in the event, where and when, who was involved, and what were you thinking and feeling? Also, please say a word or two about why you think this particular moment was so bad and what the scene may say about who you were or who you are or your life. [Interviewer note: If the participant balks at doing this, remind them that this event does not really have to be the lowest point in the story but merely a bad experience of some kind.]

Turning point. In looking back over your life, it may be possible to identify certain key moments that stand out as turning points—episodes that marked an important change in you or your life story. Please identify a particular episode in your life story that you now see as a turning point in your life. If you cannot identify a key turning point that stands out clearly, please describe some event in your life wherein you went through an important change of some kind. Again, for this event please describe what happened, where and when, who was involved, and what you were thinking and feeling. Also, please say a word or two about what you think this event says about you as a person or about your life.

C. Future Script

The next chapter. Your life story includes key chapters and scenes from your past, as you have described them, and it also includes how you see or imagine your future. Please describe what you see to be the next chapter in your life. What is going to come next in your life story? Describe where you think your life is headed in the future.

Dreams, hopes, and plans for the future. Please describe your plans, dreams, or hopes for the future. What are your main goals for the future? How do you plan to achieve those goals?

D. Challenges

This next section considers the various challenges, struggles, and problems you have encountered in your life. I will begin with a general challenge, and then I will focus in on three particular areas or issues where many people experience challenges, problems, or crises.

Life challenge. Looking back over your entire life, please identify and describe what you now consider to be the most important challenge, struggle or conflict you have faced in your life. Describe what the challenge is, how it came to be, and how you have tried to address it or cope with it. What is the significance of this challenge or problem in your own life story?

E. Personal Ideology

Now, I would like to ask a few questions about your fundamental beliefs and values and about life and the world. Please give some thought to each of these questions.

Change/development of religious and political views. Please tell the story of how any religious, ethical, and/or political views and values have developed over time. Have they changed in any important ways? Please explain.

Single value. What is the most important value in human living? Please explain.

F. Life Theme

Thinking back over what you have said in this interview, do you see a theme or a motif that runs through your life? Tell me what that theme is. How might this theme be emulated in your future work/aspirations? This could be a specific planned project in the future or one of your goals from above. Please explain.

G. Reflection

Given that most people don’t share their life stories in this way on a regular basis, I’m wondering if you might reflect for one last moment about what this interview, here today, has been like for you. What were your thoughts and feelings during the interview? How do you think this interview has affected you? Do you have any other comments about the interview process?

H. Is there anything else I should know to understand your life story?

(A very important and valuable item—do not skip this question!)