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Interview Assignment Field Notes
After conducting the interview, explain how you made contact with your participant, your relationship with this person, and your impressions and thoughts regarding this experience. You are advised to write this as soon as possible after you have completed each interview. This description should be 1-2 pages typed. Below are suggested guidelines. I have also attached examples of descriptions that I have written for you to consider.
1) Describe this person. Where did he/she grow up? When did he/she come to the US? Why did he/she come to the US?
2) Explain your relationship with this person. Is this person someone you have known for a long or short time? Did someone introduce you to this person? Is this person someone you consider a friend? Acquaintance? Family member? Etc.?
3) How did the interview go? Did you feel like the participant was friendly and willing to talk to you? Was she (he) quiet and unwilling to say some things? If you did the interview at her (his) house, describe the house. Were there other people present, and if so did they participate in the interview? Describe the way the participant was dressed and appeared. Describe how you felt about the interview. Finally, write about anything memorable that was said during the interview, especially noting anything that was unexpected.
Examples (names and places have been changed to protect the identity of each participant)
Interview with a man in Changhua County:
I was introduced to this man by Mr. Wang whom I know through the Fulbright program. Mr. Wang recently retired from his position at USC and has moved with his wife, Barbara, to a newly built home in his hometown in Changhua. Changhua is famous as 田尾公路花園, which attracts visitors from all over Taiwan. As such, while it is an agrarian community, it is one place which has been relatively successful at making the transition from agriculture to tourism, and is a relatively prosperous town, judging by the number of visitors, shops, and number of newly built homes. This participant, Mr. Lin, lives in a rather new and well-built three (perhaps 4) storey home in the traditional “box” style. It’s a family compound, with relatives who live nearby. Also, on one end (the farthest in from the street) is a small furniture factory owned and run by Mr. Lin. When I came he was sitting there with many other men gathered around. It appeared they make the low leather sofas which are popular in Taiwan. We then moved to the living room of his house to do the interview, a more private, but impersonal place.
For the interview he instructed me to sit in a chair behind a rather large desk. I pulled out my list of questions, which he looked over before we began. Then during the interview he sort of stood across from me while looking on my list of questions. His answers were very terse. My guess is that if we had been sitting and “chatting” he might have answered differently. However, he seemed rather friendly, and it might very well be that this is how he often talks.
Mr. Lin has been married 7 years. He went with the same group as Mr. Liu to Indonesia, also through the 媒人 (group of 7 went). His wife is Indonesian Chinese, speaks Indonesian and Hakka, and learned T and some M since coming to Taiwan. Has ID, just received it in past year. Did not attend literacy classes and cannot read Chinese. He and his wife both have Junior High education. They seemed wealthier than Mr. Liu. They also live with his parents who are still A-Huive.
In regards to identity questions, he considers his wife and children to be Taiwanese.
Mr. Wang told me that his wife is willing to be interviewed. I did not interview her on this day as she was visiting her sister (姊姊?), who evidently has also married to Taiwan. I intend to follow-up on this and try to interview her at a future date.
Interview with a woman in Yuanlin
A-Hui introduced me to this woman. She knows a woman, “大姊“ who lives across the street. 大姊 also knew another Mainland bride who lives behind her. So, we were introduced to two women. We did the first interview with mother 12. Later, the other woman came over. I interviewed her second.
This mother came to the living room toward the end of the interview with Mother 12, when I was asking questions about “Who counts as a 台灣人?” And the perceptions others have toward her and other 外籍新娘. She did not hear the earlier questions. This, I believe, influenced what transpired. I did not ask her questions from my list. Rather, after asking and receiving permission to record the interview, she began to tell me her experiences of living in Taiwan. She told a series of stories about about people who have treated her unfairly, stories illustrating the false perceptions people have, visits from the police, the unfair laws she is subject to. At one point in the interview tears came to her eyes as she was telling a story about a person who evidently went to the police to file a complaint against her. She was not complaining about her husband, although she did say he did not have any money. Rather, she was complaining about the many injustices of living in Taiwan. In sum, her point was to ask why the government of Taiwan let her and other women like her marry to Taiwan from China, but at the same time has a number of laws that make it difficult for her to live well in Taiwan. She said that Taiwan is not free. They let her come, but did not give her the opportunity. In contrast, she is freer to live her life in China.
After I turned off the audio recorder, she made one final point which I need to note here.
She said that in Taiwan whenever there is a case of a Mainland bride getting divorced, this woman, this instance, is seen as representing all Mainland brides, that they come to
Taiwan and get divorced. Instead, she noted, the divorce rate in Taiwan is high already, and many people get divorced for a variety of reasons. It is unfair to single out Mainland brides and only see their “faults” when so many local Taiwan people have the same or worse faults.
As for her appearance, she was younger than woman 12. Her hair was dyed, permed, and she wore an attractive blouse. Her appearance was most likely related to her profession, a hairstylist. She has opened her own business. Toward the end, after she had gone through many complaints about the people of Taiwan, A-Hui spoke up and made two points. One is that there are people in Taiwan just like she was complaining about. They are nosy, and say things that make you mad. There are also husbands in Taiwan who are bad, just like her own. But two is that there are also good people, and places where there are good people. One place where there are good people is her home in Chhan-chng. To her, Yuanlin is a different place, one that took her some to get used to. Finally, after the recorder was turned off she encouraged her to do something that made her happy, such as go out with friends and sing. Mother 13 says she does this. She’ll treat herself to a visit to a Spa.
My sense is that this woman saw me, an outsider, as an opportunity to vent all her frustrations. She did not seem like the kind of person who has given up on Taiwan, nor is Taiwan all bad. But she’s gone through some difficult times recently, and she let it out.
Another memorable point she made is that some people in Taiwan have asked her if she had television in China. They think China is a poor place, and don’t know much about Guangdong, which is the richest province in China. They also imply that the only reason she and other brides came to Taiwan was because she was poor.
Another point she made, similar to what men in Chhan-chng told me, is that the men who marry foreign brides tend to be poorer, less able to care for their family.
She spoke at length about banking laws, that she cannot open an account, take out an insurance policy for her son, without her husband. She complained about laws that remind her of being different, second class.
She also complained about 擔保人, or the practice of requiring a guarantor on a loan. She complained that she cannot find people who have the required sum of money. She also complained about the way police fine people for traffic violations, and that the fine increases if you pay it late.