Structuring an Interview of an Elderly Interviewee at the Daycare Center

By Yiler Huang

Blue text = my guess

  1. who do you like to spend time with the most
  2. When you were young, what do you eat for dinner the most beef noodle
  3. What is the job you spend the longest time on salesperson, worker in company
  4. What is your favorite place in your home living room
  5. What was the food you like to eat the most beef noodle
  6. What is the date you were born, including year, month, and date 1950 something
  7. Were you born when Taiwan was still a part of Japan no or maybe
  8. If you can go to any country you want to go, which country would it be
  9. What was the thing you wanted the most a computer
  10. How many siblings do you have, who is the closest to them 3 ~ 6
  11. How old are you 70 ~ 80 something
  12. How many childrens do you have 3 ~ 5
  13. What do you like to do if you are alone watch TV
  14. What was the food you eat the most everyday beef noodle
  15. What was your favorite channel on TV news
  16. what was your favorite show on TV news
  17. Do you still hang out with other people no
  18. If you can have a pet, would it be a dog or a cat
  19. Were there a lot of foods from other country at that time
  20. Do you like the elderly people care center yes

key words

The answers in the parentheses are my answers to the questions.

  1. Talk to them when they are a kid
  2. birth day, yyyy, mm, dd (mine is 2007, 10, 06) (p1)
  3. sibling, who’s closest (I don’t have siblings)(p1)
  4. who to spend time with the most (my friends)(p1)
  5. Taiwan, part of Japan (p1)
  6. what was their favorite movie (The Matrix)(p1)
  7. I want to talk about your job
  8. dinner, most often (I order things online most often)(p2)
  9. food, like the most (I like sushi)(p2)
  10. why do they like the food?(p2)
  11. thing wanted the most (I want a chair)(p2)
  12. Job, longest time (I’m currently a student)(p2)
  13. favorite place at home (my room)(p2)
  14. things to do when alone (playing games)(p2)
  15. hang out with people? (sometimes)(p2)
  16. favorite channel, TV (I don’t have one)(p2)
  17. favorite show (Mythbusters)(p2)
  18. Their current life
  19. how many children (p3)
  20. Which country to go (Japan)(p3)
  21. eat most, everyday (p3)
  22. Pet, cat or dog? (my answer: cat)(p4)
  23. like elderly care center or not (p4)

By looking at the pictures of Taiwan around the 60s ~ 70s, I think there isn’t much food that was from other countries. Also, the amount of wheat farms reached its highest peak during the 1960s, so there were a lot of materials to make wheat. I guessed their job was most likely salesman and company worker because I thought there was a lot of paperwork that had to be done manually. I thought they wanted a computer because that was when the internet started to get invented, and it was the most revolutionary technology back then.

Answers I got

  1. She is born in Taiwanese year 33, April 3 Taiwanese traditional date
  2. She has 7 siblings, some sisters and some are brothers.
  3. She came to the elderly home 5 years ago, because she got hit by a car when going out to buy things
  4. She has 2 daughters
  5. When she was young, she liked to talk to her sisters.
  6. She likes to plant stuff
  7. She doesn’t like to travel, because it is tiring to
  8. She likes to watch dramas on TV
  9. In her free time, she likes to play board games with other people in the elderly center
  10. She didn’t go to school when she was young, because her father didn’t allow her to
  11. She thinks her father is a bad person, because he didn’t care about his family
  12. When she was about 20 years old, her second brother brought them away from their father. They worked as laborers at that time, her job was cleaning
  13. when she was young, she has to plant her food herself
  14. She still cooks now, she said she likes to cook vegetables that don’t have strong taste
  15. She lived in 新店, 雙坑
  16. When she was young, they have to build their own house with dirt and weed
  17. She has Diabetes, which her grandfather also has
  18. When she got hit by a car, she went to MaJie hospital to take surgery
  19. Her sisters were all passed away
  20. She does a lot of household things at home
  21. She lived at the top of a mountain when she was young
  22. She is still sharp
  23. Her name is 鄔蘇智慧