Michelle and I discussed our subject groups this week and contemplated sending our email template to various groups of people such as the other Sociology senior seminar class and Visual Arts Senior Studio class. We worried over the randomness of our sampling groups because in some way the respondents we are requesting for data are calculated, but we decided for the sake of convenience to choose already established groups of people over asking subjects individually. Michelle and I also came to the conclusion that interviews are necessary for our project. Although the data we are receiving from analyzing messages is valuable and interesting, we want to understand WHY millennnials are messaging the way they are which we are unable to answer from only examining the messages. Therefore we brainstormed a few interview questions which we would likely ask after we have received data from respondents.
- What messaging platform do you predominantly to communicate with people?
- Do you use proper punctuation in your messages? Why?
- How do you express tone in your messages?
- How do you express emotion in your messages?
- What is your opinion on ending punctuations in messages?
- Does your style of messaging change depending on the person you are talking to?
- Do you incorporate visual in your messages? Why or why not?
- If you do use visuals, could you provide us examples (memes, GIFS, emoji’s)?
- What’s the difference between using a visual in your messages versus using text?
- Are there unwritten rules that you adhere to when it comes to sending messages?
We estimate that the interviews will take 20-30 minutes at most. Since they will already have an idea of our research project from previous emails about gathering messages as data, we do not need to interview them extensively about their background. I intend to make these interviews short and straightforward. However, I speculate that age, gender, race, class, etc. may also influence how millennials message. I think it is important that we also gather basic information of each respondent but I worry that this may be too much information for too little time, or broaden the research project. The list of questions we came up with are also very general, but we would likely point out to very specific parts of each respondent’s messages and ask them their opinion on why they did what they did. We will have to include many aspects of the messages in a short amount of time.
Another one of my concerns is whether or not the generation of the other message recipient opposite our respondent matters. We have not a clear conclusion but I assume that majority of millennials change their style of messaging depending on who they are talking to. I wonder if we should be focusing on how millennials are communicating with each other and thus, only gather conversations between millennials, or include millennials talking to everyone/the general population.
In the next week, Michelle and I need to email the subject groups we have in mind and also start conducting interviews. We hope that we can meet with Professor Greene for advice on the interview questions and the logistics of gathering this data.
Bettina,
I have enjoyed reading your two blogs, which, to me, demonstrates a project in thoughtful evolution. I think that you and Michelle moving to interviews with students about their texting practices is a fruitful strategy, as you are want to understand the motivations behind the way they text. I also like the question as to whether students text differently depending on the audience. I cannot help think about Goffman here; your respondents seem to suggest that texting is no different than a performance. Considerations like how long one should wait before responding (as to not look desperate) indicates that students are attempting to cultivate an impression around themselves through texts.
Moving forward, I would encourage you to use your interview schedule as a guide more than as a strict series of questions. Interviews should be a working document, where you go where the conversation takes you. This will enable you to elicit some rich data of stories that the two of you can analyze to better understand the dynamics of texting culture among Millennials.
I like the engagement with texting as a function of Millennial culture. I can’t wait to read what follows.