Some points to help you on the second short paper:

NOTE: DUE DATE HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO APRIL 4.

1. If you possibly can, you should try to tape record your interviews. You do not need to produce word-for-word transcriptions of your interviews, but having the tapes to listen to afterward will allow you to produce richer analyses.

2. Always inform your respondents of the purpose of your interview. Assure them that their responses will be kept confidential, and that you will protect their anonymity. Do not use real names in your paper.

3. You have some leeway in how you structure your interview, but given some of the themes of our course, you may want to explore how your respondents came to view and understand genetic testing for disease the way they did. In other words, you may want to probe to find out what are the most important influences shaping their perspectives and attitudes (The media? Their physicians? Other family members? And so on).

4. You may if you wish have your respondents talk about genetic testing in general, or you may pick a specific disease to focus on—your choice.

5. As described in the course syllabus, you may find it helpful to prime your respondents by giving them an article or excerpt from an article to read and comment on. Alternatively, you may present them with a hypothetical scenario and ask them to comment.

6. For those of you who decide to focus on prenatal testing, the text by Rayna Rapp, Testing Women, Testing the Fetus,that we will be reading for class on March 30 and April 4 may prove to be very helpful. You may want to look at this text before those dates.

7. If you want me to read a draft of your paper before turning it in, I would be glad to—just send it to me as an attachment. But do not wait until the day before the paper is due (April 4).

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