Week 1: May 18-24

This was the first week of the SHARE Initiative. The mailing from the Deans Office explaining the
initiative was sent to the alumni on Wednesday. I will be able to start making calls next week! I spent this
week preparing for the commencement of calling the alumni. I watched a video of Jim Langley
explaining this project and its success at Georgetown University. He provided helpful tips that I will try to
implement in the calling procedure as well as in the interview process. I received the list of alumni that I
will be responsible for calling as well. Therefore, I started to make notes of the alumni I would call during
the first two weeks of the project. Finally, I created a template that I will use when calling the alumni. I
will not necessarily read directly off of this sheet. The purpose is merely to make sure that I include
everything that I need to include in the initial calling process to make this research a success.

Week 2: May 25-31

I started to make calls on Wednesday of this week. I discovered that reaching out to alumni after 7:00 PM
was a time when most people were available. I discovered some challenges to making calls in this first
week already. Many of the alumni have strict privacy settings on their phones. Therefore, it can be
difficult, or even impossible, to connect via the phone. I decided this week that I am going to focus on a
group of ten alumni over a period of two weeks. This will allow me make calls and input data without
feeling rushed to complete the calls. I am only permitted to make three calls to each alum before I can
consider a file completed. I feel that using such a system will allow for me to account for individuals
being out of town. I also will try to call at different times if I cannot make contact the first time. I did
contact some alumni during the first week. Most were unwilling to talk or even confirm information for
the University database. I did make one connection this week which I hope is successful. I contacted an
alumna with MS. Because of this, she is unable to travel easily. However, she was very interested in
completing an interview. Therefore, I made some accommodations for her, and I hope to hear back from
her in the next week or two.

Week 3: June 1-7

I continued to make calls and input data this week. I am now totally completed with ten out of fifty files.
Of the first ten alumni I called, I was able to speak directly with five people. One of those five was
interested in an interview. I was unable to connect via the phone with two out of the ten. Three out of the
ten were not home during the three times that I called. Going forward, I think that I am going to try to
make calls after 5:00 PM Monday-Thursday. I do not believe that there is anything wrong with the
template I am using. People are either interested or not. I need to remember to not take it personally when
someone hangs up or does not want to complete an interview. If I get an interview for every nine people
that hang up, thats okay. Even from some of the people who are not interested in an interview, I am
getting valuable information. One woman whom I called did not even attend the University of Cincinnati.
This is important information, as we can take her off of the mailing list.

Week 4: June 8-14

This week, I made calls to a new set of ten alumni. I can definitely tell that I have learned from my first
calling experiences. I am now careful to call people at times that are most convenient as well as times
when people are likely to be home. For example, if an alum graduated in 1955, it is likely that he or she
would be home at 2:00 PM. However, if the alum graduated in 1985, it is likely that he or she would be
working at that time. Therefore, I need to call back later in the evening. I am beginning to notice a major
bias in this research: non-participation bias. There are more people saying no to accepting phone calls and
taking part in an interview than those who say yes. An important research question to ask is, Is there a
reason that they are not participating? Also, if I leave three messages for someone, I am not permitted to
contact that alum again. We might be increasing this bias by limiting the number of phone calls to three
per person.

Week 5: June 15-21

At the close of this week, I am now completed with nineteen out of fifty files. I am incredibly pleased
with my progress. No one in my second set of alumni agreed to an interview. However, I was able to get
valuable information over the phone from some of the alumni. One alumna graduated in 1955. At that
time, the CAHS did not exist and she obtained her degree from CAS. She shared with me that students
obtained a very well-rounded education rich in history, art, and language. She expressed to me her
concern that the CAHS may be becoming too science focused. I also heard back from the alumna who
agreed to an interview in Week 2 of the project. Unfortunately, she had a physical setback, but she still
wants to complete an interview. I should complete this interview either next week or the following week.
I am definitely realizing that qualitative research, especially interview research, completely revolves
around the subjects. If the subjects cannot meet, research cannot be done. If the subjects are unwilling to
participate fully, the research may suffer as a result.

Week 6: June 22-28

I had great success this week! I completed three short telephone interviews as well as a full length
interview. This was the first full length interview I completed. It was enlightening to hear about this
particular alumnas college experiences. She discussed the faculty in the CAHS as a big part of her
college experience. Even though this was my first interview, I quickly have developed a favorite question,
What advice would you give to students like me? This is the final question that I ask. It is nice to hear
this response because it personalizes a somewhat dry and monotonous research interview. I am permitted
to edit the interview questions as I feel necessary. I only took this liberty several times during the
interview, omitting questions that I felt were somewhat redundant or the subject had already answered in
previous questions. Overall, the interview went really well! I am eager to schedule future interviews to
improve upon my interview skills and techniques as well as hear other alumni perspectives.

Week 7: July 6-12

After a week off from the project, I began Week 7 with great success. I completed my second full length
interview from the alum I had contacted in Week 2. The answers provided were extremely thorough and
well thought out. As with my first interview, my favorite question remains, What advice would you give
to students like me? The alum responded by saying, Dont stop learning! This simple advice reminded
me that although I can find this research frustrating at times because people are unwilling to participate,
the people who do choose to partake provide extremely valuable advice. I am learning from these
interviewsabout myself, others, and other majors in CAHS. I am also finding that although some of the
alumni may have graduated in 1958, many aspects of the College are the same: opportunities,
experiences, and thoughtful professors. As of this point, I have approximately twenty more contacts to
make.

Week 8: July 13-19

Most of this week was extremely frustrating. I made twenty calls over the course of Monday, Wednesday,
and Thursday. Very few answered their phones. Those who did answer were not willing to participate
even in the short interviews. I came to the conclusion that most of the people who hung up or not
interested determined that they were not interested before I could explain the SHARE Initiative; they
simply thought I was soliciting for the College. I also ran into the problem of some phone numbers not
being listed for some of the alumni. However, their email addresses were on my listing. I therefore
decided to email five alumni to see if they were interested in completing an interview. To my pleasure,
two alumni have since responded to my emails saying that they are interested in an interview! I will call
these people next week to arrange the details. As far as future suggestions for the SHARE Initiative, I am
definitely going to suggest contacting alumni by email if they have provided their email addresses to the
Alumni Office. If they are not interested, they probably will not respond. We can still send follow-up
emails a week or two later, just as we are doing with calls. I think that people feel less bombarded by an
email than they do by a phone call. They can choose to respond to an email at any time, whereas with a
phone call, they have to make a decision right there and now. Most people then decline. An email also
gives alumni the chance to understand the SHARE Initiative thoroughly, whereas with a call, they hear
you are calling from the University of Cincinnati, and click. I am nearing the end of the project. I have
about ten follow-up calls to make, and two interviews to schedule. My goal is to be completed with this
project by the second week of August, if not sooner.

Week 9: July 20- 26

I continued to make calls this week. I made follow-up calls to the alumni that emailed me last week
stating that they were interested. I have one interview scheduled for next week, and the other interview I
completed on Wednesday. I can definitely tell that I am improving my interview techniques. I am more
familiar with the questionnaire so I am prepared for the next question, and I can segway to the next
question more easily. I also know the questions that people have been struggling with so I can give the
alum that I am interviewing notice about it before I ask the question. They are more prepared, and, I
believe, better able to respond. I also know what common answers are since I have completed multiple
interviews. Sometimes people are afraid to answer no to questions such as, Do you keep in contact
with your classmates? For whatever reasons, the alumni always hesitate before saying no. However,
everyone whom I have interviewed has said no to this question. By providing alumni with the comfort
that no is the common response, they are more open and honest in their responses.

Week 10: July 27-August 2

This week I completed two interviews. The responses that I received from the participants were very
thorough. I have one interview scheduled for next week. I have completed making all of my calls, and I
should be wrapping up the project by late next week. At that point, I will have my final numbers as well
as the group's numbers to that point. Some students are electing to stay on the project through the Fall
Semester, but I have decided to give up SHARE to focus on other opportunities. As I was completing one
of the interviews this week, and a profound thought crossed my mind, "What if this was me answering
these questions 10 or 20 years from now?" Some of the participants have such lively responses, while
others do not seem that pleased with their experiences. I would hope that my responses would be in the
former category. I think the best way to have lively responses is to get involved, but more than just
getting involved, I think you need to have a passion for the things of which you are involved. SHARE has
certainly helped me communicate and improve as a researcher, but I think that this lesson has topped
everything that I have learned

Week 11: August 3-August 9

This was my final week of SHARE. I had one final interview this week and I tied up some loose ends.
Some students will continue to work on this project through the fall semester. I have fulfilled my duties as
a SHARE Ambassador, thus I am going to pursue other opportunities in the fall. Personally, I had a
participation rate of 24%. So far as a group, we have a 13% participation rate (31 full interviews, and 66
condensed interviews.) On the whole, I think this was a good experience for me. I dont necessarily know
if I would do it again. I was a bit of a time commitment and a bit frustrating when people did not want to
participate. I did, however, learn a lot and help alumni reconnect, making this experience worthwhile.