. Select a group you wish to learn about (e.g., a racial/ethnic group, persons with mental illness, persons with physical disabilities, older adults, persons in the LGBTQ community, a religious groups, women receiving welfare, homeless men, drug addicted individuals)
- Write what you do know, the prejudices you may hold, and any other information that forms your present understanding of the group.
- Write three global questions that will serve to focus your inquiries about the group in an interview with a “guide” from this group.
- Select a “guide” for your interview.
- Conduct the interview using the global questions to elicit your guide’s knowledge of the views/experiences of the group.
- Write a summary of the interview using the words of the “guide”
- Write an evaluation of the impact of the interview process and the information learned on your attitudes, knowledge, and skill development as a culturally competent social worker.
- Describe how the knowledge from this interview might influence your work (e.g. assessment, beginning practice) with this population in the future. How will you use your critical thinking skills to “integrate” this new ethnographic knowledge into practice with future “similar” clients? Discuss this within the context of the “bigger picture” (e.g., published research on this population, established evidence-based practices, practice wisdom, community context etc.)