What you have to in this assignment-
In this essay you need to selectively present some theory and research from the non-verbal communication (NVC) literature and explain how it is relevant to the context of interviews. For example, you could discuss multiple kinds of interviews, such as police interrogations of suspects, job interviews, interviews between a counsellor/psychiatrist/therapist and a client or just focus on one type of interview – the choice is yours.
What are the key learning outcomes for this assignment?
– To demonstrate your ability to take NVC research and consider its practical application to real-world settings
– To demonstrate the ability to critically evaluate the design, findings and theory of some of the work cited – To demonstrate your ability to support your ideas with appropriate evidence
– To demonstrate original, analytical and independent thinking
Guidance for how to write and approach this assignment-
How to approach the question?
Answer-
Firstly think about how many different kinds of interview contexts do you want to talk about? For example, if you are interested in clinical psychology you might want to focus on a counselling or therapy session, if interested in neuropsychology then a cognitive interview assessment/rehabilitation assessment, if interested in forensic psychology perhaps a police interview with a suspect, or else others might wish to think about something like an employment interview for a job, while those interested in politics might choose to focus on something like the example of a politician being interviewed on television. You do not have to focus on just one setting, these are just ideas to help get you started. Then start to think about which NVC channels you might wish to focus on – for example, gaze, proxemics, touch, etc. Your essay can then go through each channel in relation to your example context, with a review of some relevant work that you tailor to make relevant to the interview context – this is just one way to approach the essay but should give you a way to think about planning it.
In relation to the “how to run them effectively” part of the question, does this mean we should focus on just the person leading/running the interview?
Answer-
Well primarily yes, but of course part of “running them effectively” is having awareness of the NVC of the interviewee and how the interviewer and context may impact that. So you will inevitably also want to talk about the interviewee’s NVC as well as the NVC aspects of the setting and the interviewer. If you wish to look at political interviews then “How to run them effectively” could also be explored from the point of view of the politician wishing to create a positive impression among viewers/listeners. If, however, you wish to discuss forensic police interviews, please focus on the police running them effectively and not taking the side of suspects trying to persuade the police of their innocence!
How should I approach writing the Introduction and Conclusion?
Answer-
Please use SHORT introductions. You do not need to signpost everything that is coming in your essay, nor do you need to define all terms to be used. Similarly, avoid giving us historical background and context about research in NVC. Simply use the Introduction to specify how you have chosen to answer the question – what your approach will be, what setting(s) you will focus on and which NVC channels you will discuss. With regards to the conclusion – please leave enough words for a strong conclusion – it is always disappointing to read an otherwise strong essay, only for it to end with a weak conclusion. Resist the temptation to just use the conclusion to summarise your essay. Instead, see the conclusion as a final paragraph in which you draw the essay to an end by making some final over-arching points.
Is it important to get a balance between breadth and depth of coverage?
Answer-
Yes 100% this is vital. What I mean here is that at the planning stage you think carefully about how many studies to describe, which ones to go into detail about, which ones to be succinct about, and overall how many points and how many interview settings to cover. Students often lose marks by trying to cover too much ground – too many points and too many studies, and then they end up not covering anything to sufficient depth. As a year 2 essay you need to leave words to show your ability – for example via critical evaluation – and this is only possible if you don’t try to cover too much. Planning is key!
How can I find my own “voice” and strive to achieve a high 2:1 or 1st class grade for this essay?
Answer-
Essays awarded high grades of 68% – 95% will show excellent understanding and use of a wide range of relevant theory and research. They will be clearly written in a concise style, have concise and well-written Intro and Conclusion and a sense of a logical flow and structure leading the reader through the essay. There will be a good balance between breadth and depth of coverage (see a separate Q&A point about this above). Showing your ability to think for yourself can be achieved through arguing how some NVC research can be applied to interview contexts where the idea you are proposing is not already spelled out in a paper about using NVC in interviews. For example, you make a point about a finding from work on an NVC channel being relevant to a particular interview context, and one which you did not get from a paper that already makes that application. IMPORTANT: We do not expect ALL your observations in your essay to be original like this – it is OK to summarise papers that apply NVC to interviews, just try to also get some original points into your essay as well. Additionally, you can find your “voice” in the essay by perhaps pointing out a strength or weakness in a study that you are citing, or what you consider to be an un- or under-researched area in the literature or a methodological problem or challenge. Note that you do not need to tear about and critique each and every thing that you cite! It’s important to get some critical evaluation in there, but you don’t need to do this each time you describe a study!
What’s a possible structure for the essay?
Answer-
Well, here are a couple of possible structures, remembering that however you choose to structure the essay, you should include an Introduction and Conclusion as well as an APA formatted reference section.
(1) After your introduction, describe your chosen example interview setting and then go through different NVC channels that are relevant to it, remembering to make some critical evaluative points and try to get some original observational points in as well. If more than one setting is to be discussed, repeat for each setting and then add your conclusion – which could consider, for example, whether the NVC aspects of different settings covered are quite different or have overlap (that’s just one idea you could explore in a conclusion) .
(2) Another possible structure is to use NVC channels instead of interview settings as your main structure. So for example, a section of the essay explores proxemics (the spatial channel) and discusses your example(s) in relation to that channel before moving on to discussing other NVC channels like eye gaze. A conclusion might consider for example, whether you believe one channel is more important than another and why. The above are just two possible ways to structure the essay but the markers are flexible as to how you do this, as long as though your structure seems logical and works well.