Final answer:
The statement is TRUE; beginning a life story interview with a diary summary is a common approach in creating biographical narratives. This approach allows writers to compile a structured profile based on direct conversations, further research, and, if available, personal insights into the individual's experiences and thoughts.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement that a life story interview begins by asking the research participant to think about their life as if it were a diary and to summarize briefly the events in that diary is TRUE. In the context of social studies and specifically personal writing genres like autobiography and memoir, this technique is often employed as a means to initiate the biographical narrative process. While autobiographical narratives allow authors to delve deeply into their own emotions and thoughts, biographical narratives are more formal and often depend on research about someone else's life.
For a biographical narrative of someone close to the author or when there has been an interview with the subject, it becomes feasible to include personal insights and motivations, similar to an autobiographical approach. However, without direct access to the subject's internal thoughts, the writer must often infer feelings and thoughts from actions and outcomes. Profiles, as mentioned, span somewhere between formal interviews and full biographies and rely on a combination of direct conversation with living individuals and additional research to inform the writing.