ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH

INTERVIEWING & SURVEYING

PART ONE:

INTERVIEWING

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 gather additional evidence simply by observing the person you interview and examining the way that they speak about their discourse community.

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?

TO BEGIN
Your interview questions should be relevant to your discourse community. The questions should relate to the type 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 the information they would need to successfully communicate with members of your discourse community. You should interview (as well as conduct your other forms of research) with Swales six defining characteristics of discourse communities in mind.

Make sure you inform your source of the purpose of your interview (to gather information about the community that they are a part of)

REMEMBER THE SWALES SIX

1. Community has a common goal. 2. Members communicate (using multiple mechanisms). 3. Members must participate in the exchange of information. 4.There are behavioral and formal expectations (genres) among group members. 5. Community has a specific lexis (vocabulary). 6. Members have different levels of expertise.

REMEMBER THE DEFINITION OF DISCOURSE

words acts values beliefs attitudes social identities gestures glances body positions clothes

THE INITIAL QUESTIONS

How to get your interview started. You can begin by asking your interviewee to tell you about their group. (As long as your interviewee knows what group you are talking about, you can just talk to them about their groupyou dont have to call it a discourse community in your interview.) Ask: What are the purposes for your group? What is your groups main goal? Why is the group a group? What do you (the interviewee specifically, not the group as a whole) do to achieve those purposes/goals? How does the group as a whole work towards achieving the groups purposes/goals.

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 you considered an expert or a newbie? How can you tell who the newcomers are in the group? Are some people more involved than others?

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?

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.

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 and your discourse community. Your real interviews should consist of 7-10 questions more if you wish. (I know that many of you may be experts in your discourse communities, but getting information from someone elses point of view can be very useful.)

PART TWO: SURVEYS

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 your discourse community by surveying multiple members of that community. Find out what is common knowledge and what is specific to your discourse community by surveying nonmembers.

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.

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 when talking to people outside the group? What are those terms? Etc.

SURVEYS OUTSIDE THE DISCOURSE COMMUNITY

If you choose to interview people who are not members of your discourse community, the following are the types of questions 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 of your discourse community) with a member of (your discourse community)? If your discourse community uses a specific vocabulary, ask nonmembers if they know/understand terms. Etc.

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