ethnography 1 (project two)

7/30/2019 Ethnography 1 (Project Two)

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ETHNOGRAPHIC

RESEARCH

INTERVIEWING & SURVEYING


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PART ONE:

INTERVIEWING


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WHY INTERVIEW?

An interview should be semi-conversational and proceed

organically from question to question with room for relevant

digressions along the way.

This unrestricted format will allow you to collect a

wealth of information from your source, provide you

with potential quotes for use in your pamphlet, and

give you time to interact with a member of the

community you are investigating. You may gatheradditional evidence simply by observing the person

you interview and examining the way that they speak

about their discourse community.


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INTERVIEWING 101

The first things you need to establish when setting up your

interview:

Who are you interviewing?

Why are you interviewing this person? (What does he/she

have to do with your discourse community?)

When & where will your interview take place? Will it be in

person, over the phone, or via email?


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TO BEGIN

Your interview questions should be relevant to yourdiscourse community. The questions should relate to thetype of information you need for your report.

REMEMBER: The aim of your report is to supply someone

who is not a member of your discourse community with theinformation they would need to successfully communicatewith members of your discourse community.

You should interview (as well as conduct your other forms ofresearch) with Swales six defining characteristics ofdiscourse communities in mind.

Make sure you inform your source of the purpose of yourinterview (to gather information about the community thatthey are a part of)


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REMEMBER THE

SWALES SIX1. Community has acommon goal.

2. Members communicate(using multiplemechanisms).

3. Members must participatein the exchange ofinformation.

4.There are behavioral andformal expectations(genres) among groupmembers.

5. Community has a specificlexis (vocabulary).

6. Members have differentlevels of expertise.


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words

acts

values

beliefsattitudes

social identities

gestures

glances

body positions

clothes

REMEMBER THE

DEFINITION OF

DISCOURSE


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THE INITIAL

QUESTIONS

How to get your interview started.

You can begin by asking your interviewee to tell you abouttheir group. (As long as your interviewee knows whatgroup you are talking about, you can just talk to them

about their groupyou dont have to call it a discoursecommunity in your interview.)

Ask:

What are the purposes for your group? What is yourgroups main goal? Why is the group a group?

What do you (the interviewee specifically, not the group asa whole) do to achieve those purposes/goals?

How does the group as a whole work towards achievingthe groups purposes/goals.


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WHAT ELSE SHOULD

YOU ASK?

Ask about expertise and participation

How long have you (the interviewee) been a part of this

group?

Why did you join this group?

What do you have to do to really be considered a true

member of the group?

How often do you go to (meetings, practices, games, other

events)?

Do people in the group listen to you/trust you? Are youconsidered an expert or a newbie?

How can you tell who the newcomers are in the group?

Are some people more involved than others?


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MORE QUESTIONS

Ask questions about intercommunication and behavior.

How does the group communicate? (Meetings, emails,

forums, phone calls, websites, etc.)

What kinds of texts does your group use? (Newsletters,handbooks, Facebook pages, etc.) How does the group

use these texts? Are group members expected to use

these texts in a specific way?

Are there ways that these texts are used that an outsider

might not understand?


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EVEN MORE

QUESTIONS

Ask questions about lexis (vocabulary).

Is there special terminology or abbreviations that

members of the group must know/learn to participate in

the group? What are some of these terms?

Why are these terms used?

How long did it take you to learn those terms?

Define some of the terms/abbreviations used by your

group.


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GET STARTED

In-Class Writing

Think of potential interviewees. Based on the questions we

have just gone over, write your own questions. You may base

them on the examples, but make them more specific to the

person or people you are thinking about interviewing andyour discourse community.

You r real interviews s hou ld consis t of 7-10 quest io ns

more i f you w ish. (I know th at many of you m ay be exper ts

in you r discou rse communi t ies, but get t ing informat ion

from someone elses point of view can be very useful.)


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PART TWO:

SURVEYS


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WHY CONDUCT A

SURVEY?

Surveys in the situation of our reports can help

you to do two things:

Establish the language and communication

practices that are most important to yourdiscourse community by surveying multiple

members of that community.

Find out what is common knowledge and what is

specific to your discourse community bysurveying nonmembers.


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SURVEYING 101

Basic types of surveys

Questionnaire

Multiple choice

Open-ended (long or short answers)

Face-to-face interview

Ask multiple subjects the same questions and

record their answers.


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SURVEYS WITHIN THE

DISCOURSE COMMUNITY

If you choose to conduct a survey within your discourse

community, the following are types of questions you should

ask:

What is the most significant way that you (the person

being surveyed) communicate with other group members?

How often do you communicate with other group

members?

Are there certain words or abbreviations that you use

when talking to your group that you do not use whentalking to people outside the group? What are those

terms?

Etc.


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SURVEYS OUTSIDE THE

DISCOURSE COMMUNITY

If you choose to interview people who are not members ofyour discourse community, the following are the types ofquestions you should consider asking:

Have you heard of (your discourse community)?

Have you ever participated in (your discourse community)in any way?

Would you feel comfortable discussing (a key aspect ofyour discourse community) with a member of (yourdiscourse community)?

If your discourse community uses a specific vocabulary,ask nonmembers if they know/understand terms.

Etc.


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HOW TO CONDUCT

SURVEYS

Make sure to get the name of the person you interview.

Face-to-face

Take notes or record brief interviews

Questionnaires

Print out questionnaires and distribute

Use an online survey creator

Zoomerang: http://app.zoomerang.com/Home/

Facebook polling applications
http://app.zoomerang.com/Home/http://app.zoomerang.com/Home/http://app.zoomerang.com/Home/

ethnography 1 (project two)

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