I conducted an interview, which I will attach and need it analyzed and interpreted from the worksheet and need it completed by Monday afternoon.  

RES/724 v6

Observation Guide

RES/724 v6

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Analysis and Interpretation Worksheet
Part I: Analysis and Interpretation
Interview Data:

1. Select an appropriate analytic procedure to code your interview data.

2. Code your data using a qualitative data analysis program or by hand in a separate document. This process must identify: (1) codes and themes, (2) sub-codes, (3) categories, and (4) subcategories.

a. Discuss your approach to coding the interview data. What procedure(s) did you select? Justify your response.

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3. Examine the results of your analytic procedure(s).

a. Identify 2 or 3 initial assertions based on your interpretation of the interview data. Discuss how you arrived at each assertion.

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b. Synthesize your initial assertions into a key assertion about the central phenomenon in your mock study.

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Observation Data:

1. Review the Observation Guide you completed in Week 6, paying attention to your field notes and detailed narrative passages.

2. Compose 2 or 3 analytic memos triggered by your field notes.

a. Memo 1:

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b. Memo 2:

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c. Memo 3:

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3. Compose a meta-memo that synthesizes the primary elements from your analytic memos into a new whole.

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4. Examine the results of your analytic procedure(s).

a. Identify 2 or 3 initial assertions based on your interpretation of the observation data. Discuss how you arrived at each assertion.

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b. Synthesize your initial assertions into a key assertion about the central phenomenon in your mock study.
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Part II: Reflection

Write a 700- to 1,050-word reflective essay about your experience applying qualitative research methods and the knowledge you have gained from this course. Include your essay in the space below.

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Copyright© 2019 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved.

Copyright© 2019 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved.

JenniferVitale:

00:01

All right. Well thank you so much I’m sitting here with Mrs. Olya and I am getting ready to interview her. The purpose of this interview is to be able to view financial literacy from a varying standpoint or perspective. This is such requires the contribution of parties who are familiar in this field of practice. And I know you are familiar, so that is why I chose you. Please ensure that the information provided is as accurate as possible because it helps reflect the perspective regarding the topic. So if you could just take a minute, Olya and tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do and then we’ll go into the interview.

Olya Dadressan:

00:46

I am Regional Vice President was the company called Primerica Financial Services that provides financial literacy, financial education and financial solutions for the middle income America, lower middle income, middle income, and actually higher income as well.

Jennifer Vitale:

01:04

Great. So how would you describe financial literacy?

Olya Dadressan:

01:12

Well, um, it is sort of, um, I would compare it mostly like with the light. It’s hard to describe light when you don’t have it right? Because without it, it’s darkness. You can’t see anything. So is financial literacy. It’s sort of similar, right? You don’t realize you liking something until you have it. And so most people that grow up in the United States, they are actually financially illiterate because there is no education on finance provided in our educational system. Right? So really the only things that we are exposed to are commercial content such as, uh, you know, credit card advertising, right. Or, uh, information about student loans, or information about mortgages. So we are only exposed to the literacy that really benefits the financial institutions and the banks. But we don’t know anything about our own financial goals, how to save, how to invest, how to make the right choices. So, most Americans, again, they don’t realize that they are financially illiterate. It’s because they are just, all they know is darkness. So they don’t realize that something is missing.

Jennifer Vitale:

02:36

I love that. Um, at what point can you remember the initial contact with the topic of financial literacy?

Olya Dadressan:

02:47

Well, I am very educated, right? I have three master degrees. I was working at the university, n Washington D.C as a career counselor. I was participating in a 401k. I was making good money. I didn’t think of myself as financial illiterate at all, but meanwhile we would accumulate some debt. Since I got married, we put our wedding basically on credit cards. It was hard to pay that off. It was sort of just hanging in there and growing a little bit. So there was a lot of financial mistakes we were doing without realizing that we were in, you know, going down the wrong path. And then what happened is, um, I had a baby and realized that my choices were pretty limited in terms of maintaining our standard of living. Uh, it was either to, uh, to hire a babysitter or nanny and continue working or to quit my position and stay, become a stay at home mom.

Olya Dadressan:

03:49

I chose the latter. I stayed home with my child, but, uh, my income of course, went away, which wasn’t a lot, it was about $52,000 at the time, but, uh, the bills didn’t go away. Right. And so my husband and I have, we’ve already struggled at the time with paying off the credit card debt that we had already and now we were slammed with 30%, 30, 40% reduction of our income. And that’s when we just realized we’re suffocating, we’re drowning. We don’t know how to manage, even though, I mean, he was making six figures, you’d think that on six figures you should be able to survive. And we were drowning. So that’s really is the first time when we started facing some hard questions, how to pay off debt, how to find solutions to basically manage, managed financially within our means and things like this.

Jennifer Vitale:

04:53

Okay. Got it. Great. And can you tell me about other contributory factors of influence that you can remember like over the course of your life? Maybe there was a time when you were younger or something that may have…

Olya Dadressan:

05:10

uh, would you like the contributing factors to financial literacy or to financial illiteracy?

Jennifer Vitale:

05:16

contributing factors to financial literacy.

Olya Dadressan:

05:19

Okay. So the financial literacy, I think there was a lot of self-study, right? I, you know, I’m generally, uh, educated, I like to figure things out and I, I would take courses and uh, classes whenever I could about a lot of different things. So overall I think I had a pretty good grasp on general economic concepts and the general financial concepts. I just wasn’t really applying them to myself. Right. Uh, in, uh, growing up in the former Soviet Union, we never had access to debt or credit. And I’m not, not that I was unfamiliar, I was really uncomfortable, was an idea of that to begin with because of the cultural influence, right? Right. To have to spend something you don’t have. Right. And it’s only switched for me when I married my husband because he was an American and I thought, well, if they do it, I guess that’s the right thing. He just kind of let yourself be talked into it without realizing that maybe the way you were educated or you were conditioned previously might have been a better way. Right. Right. So that’s what I had to learn it the hard way.

Jennifer Vitale:

06:35

Absolutely. And with regard to experience now, how many individuals would you say that you think you come across that are familiar with the concept of financial literacy?

Olya Dadressan:

06:50

Not nearly enough. I would say that probably about 90% of people I interact with, uh, have never discussed financial literacy with anybody. In fact, uh, they often don’t even talk to each other as a couple about money because it’s such a sensitive topic. And there is, you really need somebody to navigate this discussion with some knowledge and you know, uh, science-based principles or some sort of solid, uh, markers where you could gauge your right or on us on. Right. That’s what I meant. And so, uh, unfortunately, uh, I’m usually the first person people talk to about their debt, about their money, or about how much they struggle or their retirement and that they have no idea what it is. And you know that they’re not on track for it. And, uh, the, you know, when it comes to insurance concepts, life insurance, no one is aware of anything at all. So, um, yeah, no, I think majority of people, are not familiar with financial literacy and those who are, uh, and you know, by familiar, I mean they actually apply it not that they’ve heard the word. Um, those do pretty well. Those do pretty well. So I can usually tell. Right.

Jennifer Vitale:

08:21

Awesome. What do you imagine life would be like without your current education of financial education?

Olya Dadressan:

08:29

We would be much worse off than we are today and probably heading further down. Right. And, uh, without, getting this knowledge and that I got that doesn’t adult not in school or anywhere. Right. There’s already, after having a family, I’ve understood about investing, about putting money aside about paying yourself first about discipline, offer, you know, a financial planning and setting money aside today, even though you don’t see the results immediately. Uh, if I, uh, my needs that we or, uh, get in life insurance, I think I would feel incredibly vulnerable without it. But if I didn’t know that there is a solution, I probably would just keep going on writing vulnerable, leaving my family and protected and uh, we would probably have a lot more debt,

Jennifer Vitale:

09:25

I’m sure. So what are some different ways would you would consider implementing financial literacy into the education curriculum?

Olya Dadressan:

09:37

Well, I think it has to be mandatory. It should start with middle school. When they start learning math, they have to be taught investing, they have to be taught compound interest as an application to their personal finance, not just as a mathematical rule. Right. And uh, I know in some schools these days there are financial literacy course courses, but the teachers that teach those courses and not educated financial planners, so they typically follow an instruction book or something like that without understanding a real value of it. So I think, uh, creating a very straightforward educational support for the teachers so that they teach things correctly would be really important. Because I’ve come across high school students who were very excited to share that they do have a financial literacy course. But when we started discussing the specifics, I realized they’d say, we’re taught, taught all the wrong things. And uh, you know, there wasn’t really an emphasis on that elimination. There was promotion of very poor financial products, you know, and, um, so I think, and I don’t want to make it too long, maybe we’ll have to adjust the book, edit me out. But, um, I think, and that’s the thing is that, uh, the books on financial literacy should not be influenced by the financial companies or lobbyists or whether it has to be really straightforward financial principles are that benefit the people.

Jennifer Vitale:

11:28

[inaudible] absolutely. And finally, what do you think would improve their experience and learning about the topic?

Olya Dadressan:

11:38

Well, I think the best way to learn is by doing so maybe if there was, because right now you have to be 18 to open an investment account or your parents can open it for you if you’re younger. Right. Uh, and maybe, uh, if we had an option for students to open their own investment accounts and start saving a little bit, then that could be a challenge that they can be encouraged to take on in middle school when they first learned about investing was minimum with as little as $5 per, you know, contribution or something like that that could be affordable. That could be a really cool way to encourage people to do the right things with their money. And same goes for budgeting. Absolutely no figuring out, um, how to budget. I think most people never really teach their kids what to do as a gift money they get, you know, they might be saving for one thing, but they’re not really budgeting in terms of a lot of categories that the money is needed. And so what I usually teach my children is, um, when you get any money, a lump sum or any sort, it’s a hundred dollars $50, whatever, you know, to divide it into three, right, thirds. And you donate one third, you save one third and you spend one third and this way you develop healthy habits for the future for sure.

Jennifer Vitale:

13:13

Awesome. Well, thank you so much for your time. I’m sure I will use your expertise again throughout this journey. And again, I can’t thank you enough and we need more people like you in this world, so continue doing what you are doing. Thank you so much.

Audible Link:

Interview with Olya

Jennifer Vitale:

00:00

So hello today we are sitting here, uh, myself and Mr. Roosevelt who I will be interviewing. And just so you are aware, Roosevelt, the purpose of this interview is to be able to view financial literacy from a varying standpoint or perspective. This is such requires the contribution of parties who are familiar in this field of practice. And I know that you are familiar in this field and in a minute, I guess you can tell us how you are familiar in this field, but please ensure that the information provided is as accurate as possible because it helps reflect the perspective regarding the topic. So Roosevelt, if you could just take a minute, tell us about yourself and how you are familiar in this field of practice.

Roosevelt Desir:

00:45

Well, thank you. I appreciate the opportunity. Um, my name is Roosevelt. Obviously I have been in the field of finance for now coming up on eight years. Uh, my introduction to the industry was on a need that I needed to fulfill or I should say I was overcoming financial obstacles as it relates to money. My biggest problem at the time was living paycheck to paycheck. And looking for a way to find financial freedom. And at the time I was introduced to an opportunity and also a seminar, believe it or not, on how our relationship with money has been affected by what we were grown to know. So that piqued my interest into wanting to learn more and find out more as, as to how money works basically. So with that, uh, I actually got, uh, licensed with the state and not only licensed with the state, but also so was able to find a company in which stood for educating middle Americans about financial literacy and the importance of financial literacy.

Roosevelt Desir:

02:07

As you may know right now there is no, at least in my, in my demographic as far as where I come from, um, being a, uh, a child of immigrant parents, we weren’t taught about saving. We weren’t taught about investing. We weren’t taught about credit. We weren’t taught about how to budget. We weren’t taught about interest rates. We weren’t taught a lot about money unfortunately, but we were taught about how to go to work and get a paycheck. So for me, I wanted more, and I knew there was more information out there because there were some people who were winning at the money game. So when you take a look at the statistics, it’s very alarming that on average about three quarters of people are retiring with less than $25,000 and average Americans about seven and 8% of them have than 400 or $1,000 in an emergency fund. And when you take a look at those numbers of other people who are drowning in debt, it came to the conclusion that maybe we don’t know what we thought we knew, if that makes sense. So that what me to the, where I place I’m at now as far as educating people and bringing an awareness to financial literacy at the forefront of the community. Um, so basically people need to know how money works.

Jennifer Vitale:

03:30

Awesome. Absolutely. 100% and you actually answered some of the questions I’m already going to ask you. So if you could just elaborate [inaudible] excuse me, elaborate a little bit more. So the first question that I am going to ask is, in your experience, how beneficial is financial literacy?

Roosevelt Desir:

03:54

Financial literacy is a cornerstone to anything. I like to always compare it to, if you’re going to play a game, you play the game to win the game. But if you don’t know the rules of the game, how can you know that you’re winning? And most of all, how do you know if you’re scoring? Because at the end of the day you need to keep points. Like yesterday it was a Superbowl, uh, San Francisco, won I think, 31 to 20. So that was the score. San Francisco? Oh, sorry, Kansas city, I’m sorry, Kansas city, won 31 to 20. I think. What, but why was that important? Well, in order to know who’s going to win the game, you have to keep score. Well, that’s the same thing as it relates to money and understanding how money works when you’re talking about middle income families who are struggling living paycheck to paycheck and trying to balance their checkbook but not understanding that they’re paying a lot more taxes and there’s different strategies and programs in place to help them save more money and keep more of their money. Of course there’ll be losing. So it’s really an educational standpoint. Same thing as it relates to credit. If you don’t understand credit and how it works is costing you hundreds of thousands of dollars. And an instance when you go get maybe a car loan or a mortgage where people who are educated about money, they know that having good credit could get them lower interest as opposed to high interest on a credit card.

Jennifer Vitale:

05:27

Yes, absolutely. And what brought your attention and interest to the subject of financial literacy?

Roosevelt Desir:

05:36

Like I said, it was a personal, it was a personal dilemma. Um, I was making money, but unfortunately unable to save money. I didn’t know how to save money. I was a hard worker. I didn’t think that there was a major difference between myself and anybody else. I just wanted to find what was that the main thing that was missing and it was the education, the education and understanding the simple basic concepts when it comes to interest, when it comes to investing, knowing how to invest, diversification, there’s a lot more to it that’s not been taught at schools. And worst off, we are expected to go to school, get the grades and graduate. But then a lot of people unfortunately are not prepared for the real world because they lack the experiences, the real life experiences. For example, every week or every two weeks, um, a household gets a paycheck. But by the time they’re done paying all their expenses, there’s nothing left. So why is that? Is it just because people are living over there means like I was, or is it truly something else missing where there was a gap between what the wealthy people knew that weren’t taught and what average middle Americans didn’t know?

Jennifer Vitale:

07:06

Right. And with that being said about, you know, the lack of education, what are some of the different ways which you would consider implementing financial literacy into the education curriculum?

Roosevelt Desir:

07:21

Great question. It starts off, I would say a nine. I only use based on my experiences, it starts at home. For instance, we have our daughter, she understands the value of a dollar. She understands that you can’t spend everything and have nothing. So understanding that when, for example, I’m staying with my daughter, she knows if she gets a dollar, she has to split it amongst her spending. A certain percentage goes towards spending, a certain percentage goes towards giving and a certain percentage goes towards savings. So you’re preparing, you’re building a foundation in which that foundation is built on solid fundamental sound money knowledge as opposed to just just doing things because everybody else is doing it. I hope that makes sense. When you take a look at some of the studies that shows a correlation with people having some type of financial knowledge and people who don’t have any financial knowledge, the numbers are staggering.

Roosevelt Desir:

08:30

So yes, starting off with how money works and communicating that to children and then they take it, they use it, they implement it at a young age, it stays with them. And then us as adults finding the resources to learn, um, about accumulating wealth. A lot of people think that you have to have money to be wealthy or to have $1 million, which is far from the truth. It’s, it’s learning about discipline, know where to put your money as opposed to, for instance, putting money in the bank, money in the bank versus investing as two different strategies.

Jennifer Vitale:

09:12

So would you agree that financial literacy needs to be added into the curriculum then from an early age?

Roosevelt Desir:

09:20

I do agree with that and especially starting off with the schools. Um, I know I’ve, I’ve seen a couple of researches here and there. Like for instance, our daughter has received, um, a couple of brochures as far as, you know, money, finances for kids. But one of the things that we do is we teach parents to teach and have that conversation with their children starting at a young age. Understanding that, you know, you may not want to buy the brand jeans. If you can buy a lesser pair that has same comparable price and you’re saving more money and having money in the future. But it starts with first implementing it into the schools. If we can get this into the schools and they can start teaching the children, they’ll be better off. But here’s the dilemma. If the teachers don’t know this, how can they teach the children? So now you’re talking about creating a system in place where the teachers get this knowledge and able to practice it themselves and then also be able to communicate it and show and give examples to the children on how it’s feasible to have. Um, it’s a pretty much have more money.

Jennifer Vitale:

10:36

Absolutely. Very essential. So in the time that you’ve now had the knowledge and learning about financial literacy, how has it affected your lifestyle?

Roosevelt Desir:

10:48

Well, let’s say that I’m not making the same mistakes that I was previously as a young 20 year old, something kid I was giving. I was given $25,000 from a trust, and I have nothing to show for that today because I didn’t know what to do with that money. Imagine given 25 $25,000 to a 21 something year old kid. At that mindset, what are we talking about? We’re talking about material things. We’re not talking about long distance horizon. So what I know now, if I knew what I knew then what I know now, I would have invested that money, a portion of that money, if not three quarters of that money into a vehicle in which I know that, Hey, it’ll be here later on. For me, it’s very critical that people understand that. It first starts with people wanting to know. Once people informed, then they can make an informed decision into their personal situation.

Roosevelt Desir:

11:50

It’s not a cookie cutter system, but we believe, especially with my team, that when people are educated and armed with the right information, because there’s a lot of misinformation out there, but when they have the right information, they can make smart decisions. Now, obviously I’m not where I want to be, but I’m a whole lot different place than I was before having this information. So now when it comes to, for instance, getting ready to make a purchase that requires to have good credit, I know that I need to be prepared, that my credit is in line, its an order or else it’s going to cost me a lot of money, money that I already don’t have. And especially when you’re talking about big institutions like the banks who are, in my opinion, taking advantage of people, uh, and their ignorance because the banks know what to do with your money. But unfortunately not teaching us what to do with our money.

Jennifer Vitale:

12:43

Hmm. No, not at all. So with regard to experience, how many individuals would you say approximately that you come across that are actually familiar with the concept of financial literacy?

Roosevelt Desir:

13:00

Say that one more time. Sorry. [inaudible].

Jennifer Vitale:

13:02

With regard to your experience, how many individuals do you feel that you come across that are familiar with the concept of financial literacy?

Roosevelt Desir:

13:12

Unfortunately, it’s a staggering number that is way below. Um, let’s just, if I was to take a number out of, for every 10 people that I’ve talked to, maybe one, maybe one. And when you’re talking about individuals, let’s say for instance, individuals who fail to save, um, for whatever underlying reason or factors, because based on impatience, they lack the financial literacy. We live in a society right now where everybody wants it fast. And unfortunately, those are the same people who a large number are financially illiterate. So they’re not there. They don’t understand what they’re doing.

Jennifer Vitale:

14:00

Right. So it would be safe to say that we’re nowhere where we need to be as a society.

Roosevelt Desir:

14:05

No, we’re not. And that’s why right now what you’re doing and bringing that to the forefront is very important because it is a conversation to have because it’s only getting worse. As you take a look at the speed of technology and the speed of information, people are making decisions based on little information that they know and not getting the results that they want.

Jennifer Vitale:

14:33

Right. Well, looks like together we have much work to do. Um, I thank you so much for your time, for your expertise. I’m sure I will use you tremendously throughout this journey. And again, I cannot thank you enough, um, for your time and have a wonderful day.

Roosevelt Desir:

14:55

Thank you. Appreciate it.

Audible link:

Interview with Roosevelt

Week 7 Data Interviews

Wow, what a great experience. I interviewed two highly respected individuals in financial services. I quickly came to realize that their knowledge and expertise was immediately recognized. I could tell from both that the passion, and desire is there to help teach people about financial literacy. I found that they both were very knowledgeable on the concept and their answers flowed seamlessly. As I played the audio back, I feel I should have been more involved with my responses, but was scared to “steal the show.” I also found that he way I ask questions matters. It is tempting to focus on what I want to know rather than how I ask it. I noticed that I risked interjecting my opinions into the interview process even though I was not aware. The interview process made me aware of my own biases and as you mentioned in my last assignment, I must be aware of that. I also found myself anxious to get to the next question in regards to time. I need to remove that. Part of being an effective interviewer is being a good listener. Part of being a good listener, is to know when to be quiet. I may get anxious or excited when anticipating someone else’s answer, but it is important to slow down and not interject (Mckenna, 2017). I also recognized the importance of preparing for the interview. The importance of accurate preparation on behalf of the interviewer should not be underestimated and includes conceptual and practical preparations (Brinkmann & Kvale, 

2005

). Successful interviews start with careful planning that considers the focus and scope of the research question. Overall, I noticed that it is so easy to start interjecting or wanting to answer for them and I must remain to listen. This experience has been so rewarding and I look to forward to conducting many interviews as I go through this journey.

Brinkmann S, Kvale S. (2005). Confronting the ethics of qualitative research. J Constr Psychol. 18:157–181

Mckenna, K. (2017). Improve Your Research by Improving Your Interview Skills. Retrieved

Improve Your Research by Improving Your Interview Skills