Investigative Study 2: Volunteering in older adulthood
You need four participants over 60 years of age for your study – one male and one female from one cultural background, and another male and female from another cultural background. Participants must be currently volunteering or have recently volunteered (in the past 12 months). Their volunteering activity can be regular, for example, each week, or irregular, for example, from time to time, or occasionally.
In this study, you will conduct four interviews altogether. These interviews are to be conducted individually. Refer to Data table 1.
Follow these steps to prepare for your study and record your interaction and observations:
Give a brief explanation to the study and request the participants to sign the consent form.
Keep your data sheets at hand to record the information you obtain during the interview or to record your observations.
Record your observations on the data collection sheets along with any other field notes that you have.
Establish rapport prior to asking the following questions. Complete the demographic information first.
Ask your participants the following questions:
Can you describe your volunteering activity? How often (regularly) have you volunteered in the last 12 months? For how many months/years have you been volunteering?
Why do you volunteer? What motivates you to volunteer?
What do you like about volunteering? How does volunteering make you feel? Is there anything you dislike about volunteering?
Have you made friends through your volunteering activities? If yes, what is the importance of these friendships to you?
Are your family/spouse/partner/friends supportive of your volunteering activities? If so, in what ways are they supportive?
