Caylie Panuccio - Sociolinguistics, Design Research, and You: How to Languate Gooder

Join me to explore the intersection of sociolinguistics - that is, how and why we talk the way we do - and design research. Learn how applying core concepts from sociolinguistics can improve the way you conduct your work. Have you ever thought about...

How the way you sound, and the words you use, might influence a research participant’s responses during testing?
How our experiences and cultural backgrounds, and those of our research participants, influence the collection and analysis of research data because of the way we speak?
Getting ‘meta’ for a moment - how we as a design research community communicate what we do - and how we may inadvertently exclude others through the language we use, turning people away from our cause?

Transcript

1. Sociolinguistics, Design Research, and You Or, How to Languate Gooder so your Design Research is More Betterer
2. “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!
3. 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
4. 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
5. How the way you sound, and the words you use, might influence a research participant’s responses
6. Let’s talk. • Listen… ◦ To yourself ◦ To other people ◦ Your conversations Don’t be like Homer
7. An example
8. 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
9. 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’
10. How our experiences and the way we speak, and those of our research participants, influence the collection of research data
11. Let’s ponder. • Give me a “+1” using the Zoom Chat. Who here identifies as... ◦ Male? ◦ White? ◦ University-educated? Lois Peter
12. 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
13. 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.
14. 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
15. How we as a design research community talk about what we do - and how we may exclude others through language we use
16. 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?
17. 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”
18. 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
19. 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
20. 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!
21. 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!