Sociolinguistics, Design Research, and You Or, How to Languate Gooder so your Design Research is More Betterer 

“But what will you do for a real job, Caylie?” Bachelor of Arts (Languages) 日本語; 汉语, Linguistics “Hmm, dunno about interpreting” Master of Business (Banking and Finance) lolwhat NAB Graduate Program “This design research thing makes so much sense” Design Research @ NAB Design Research @ SEEK About me + why this topic Idea! 

Linguistics = the study of language Phonetics & phonology (sounds and how we make them) Sociolinguistics (society’s effects on language) Historical linguistics (language change over time) Language acquisition (how we pick up language) Socio-what? Some definitions 

In this talk, we’ll explore... ● How the way you sound, and the words you use, might influence a research participant’s responses ● How our experiences and the way we speak, and those of our research participants, influence the collection of research data? ● How we as a design research community talk about what we do - and how we might exclude others through language we use 

How the way you sound, and the words you use, might influence a research participant’s responses 

Let’s talk. ● Listen… ○ To yourself ○ To other people ○ Your conversations Don’t be like Homer 

An example 

Some concepts ● Prescriptivism = one variety of language has a higher value than other varieties, and this variety should be imposed on everyone. Instead... ○ Describe instead of prescribe ○ Avoiding judgement and ‘editing’ ○ Languating good is totally OK! ● What do I do? ○ Notetaking = ‘stream of consciousness’ ○ Use context to infer 

Some concepts ● Registers and jargon ○ Register = variety of language that is determined by what you are talking about ○ Jargon = the really technical words you might find in a register ● What do I do? ○ Word swaps ○ Does it pass the ‘Mum and Dad’ test? These are Caylie’s parents. They are not UX Researchers. Platform = website Design = concept Prototype = website that doesn’t work Feature = thing/this part here Product = ‘things you use and do’ 

How our experiences and the way we speak, and those of our research participants, influence the collection of research data 

Let’s ponder. ● Give me a “+1” using the Zoom Chat. Who here identifies as... ○ Male? ○ White? ○ University-educated? Lois Peter 

Some concepts ● Language to express personal identity ○ What does your accent and word choice say about you? ○ Does it change? Are you aware of this? ● Situational code-switching (styles) ○ Meet your participant where they are ○ Are they also code-switching? How can you help them feel more at ease? Check out Macquarie University’s ‘Australian Voices’ resource for more 

Some concepts ● Phatic communication ○ Idle chit chat is never really idle chit chat ○ Establishes rapport ● What do I do? ○ Make that chit-chat! Jokes about the weather and coffee. Making research participants comfortable since 1995. 

Some concepts ● Stereotyping = contrasting two cultures or groups on the basis of one thing ○ Instead, treat every individual as unique ● Status and contextual identity ○ Place yourself at a lower status compared with your participant, if you need to ○ Who are you in the research ‘room’? The Who have been asking this question for years 

How we as a design research community talk about what we do - and how we may exclude others through language we use 

Let’s look inward “Last month I conducted an exploratory research study. The study comprised 20 contextual inquiry sessions, which are a form of ethnography typically used in anthropological studies at the tertiary education research level. Participant ephemera was collected in-situ to ensure validity and robustness” ● Two design researchers chatting over a coffee ● A design researcher explaining their methodology to a General Manager of Product ● Me telling my data analyst partner what I got up to at work yesterday? 

An example “Well he’ll just start rattling off a bunch of terms specific to his work that I don’t know, and it doesn’t click for him that I don’t know them. I find it really hard to know what he means. I don’t remember what he says because I have no concept of these things. It doesn’t have a conceptual grounding for me, they’re just meaningless words” 

Some concepts ● In groups and out groups ○ Have you ever been in a situation where lots of complex words were used? ○ Language is used to exclude ○ What are you (or they) trying to prove? We’ve all been the banana 

OK, so what? ● Strike a balance ○ Yes, design research is a set of skills that deserves respect... ○ ...but you want what you do to be easily understood, right? Be like this pile of rocks 

Wrapping up We talked about... ● Prescriptivism ● Registers and jargon ● How we express identity through language Apply these concepts through… ● Avoiding jargon and complex words - use words swaps ● Code-switching to meet your participant where they are ● Avoiding judgement of how language is used - be a descriptivist! 

Thanks & resources No person is an island... ● Dr. Cameron Hunt (who languates good), Dr. Nathan Eva, Danya Azzopardi, Homaxi Irani If you’re keen to learn more... ● Encyclopedia of Language (David Crystal) ● Communication Across Cultures (Bow & Martin) ● An Introduction to Language (Fromkin et al) ● Sillylinguistics.com for some, well, silly linguistics!