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Public Speaking: The Virtual Text
introduction
Robert E. Mullins, a well-known local bank officer, was preparing a speech for the Rotary Club in Dallas, Texas on the topic of “finding the right loan” for a rather diverse audience. He knew his topic extremely well, had put a lot of hard work into his research, and had his visual aids completely in order. One of the things he had not fully considered, however, was the audience to which he would be speaking. On the day of the presentation, Mr. Mullins delivered a flawless speech on “secured” car and home loans, but the speech was not received particularly well. You see, on this particular week, a major segment of the audience consisted of the “Junior Rotarians” who wanted to hear about “personal savings accounts” and “college savings plans.” It was a critical error. Had Mr. Mullins considered the full nature and demographic makeup of his audience prior to the event, he might not have been received so poorly. In contemporary public speaking, the audience that you are addressing is the entire reason you are giving the speech; accordingly, the audience is therefore the most important component of all speechmaking. It cannot be said often or more forcefully enough: know your audience! Knowing your audience— their beliefs, attitudes, age, education level, job functions, language, and culture—is the single most important aspect of developing your speech strategy and execution plan. Your audience isn’t just a passive group of people who come together by happenstance to listen to you. Your
audience is assembled for a very real and significant reason: they want to hear what you have to say. So, be prepared.
Spectacular achievement is always
preceded by unspectacular
preparation.
~ Robert H. Schuller
We analyze our audience because we want to discover information that will help create a bond between the speaker and the audience. We call this bond “identification.” Aristotle loosely called it “finding a common ground.” This isn’t a one-way process between the speaker and the audience; rather, it is a two-way transactional process. When you ask an audience to listen to your ideas, you are inviting them to come partway into your personal and professional experience as an expert speaker. And, in return, it is your responsibility and obligation to go partway into their experience as an audience. The more you know and understand about your audience and their psychological needs, the better you can prepare your speech and your enhanced confidence will reduce your own speaker anxiety (Dwyer, 2005).
audience analysis
chapter 5
By Peter DeCaro, Ph.D. University of Alaska - Fairbanks
Tyrone Adams, Ph.D. University of Louisiana - Lafayette
Bonnie Jefferis, Ph.D. St. Petersburg College
www.publicspeakingproject.org
chapter objectives
After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
- List techniques for analyzing a specific target audience.
- Explain audience analysis by direct observation.
- Describe audience analysis by inference.
- Identify the purpose of a basic questionnaire.
- Recognize and apply data sampling.
- Determine when to use a Likert-type test.
- Define the five categories of audience analysis.
- Summarize the purpose of the situational analysis.
- Explain audience analysis by demography.
- Recognize the difference between beliefs, attitudes and values.
- Identify reasons for sampling a multicultural audience.
- Apply the chapter concepts in final questions and activities.
chapter outline
- Introduction
- Approaches to Audience Analysis o Direct Observation o Inference o Sampling
- Categories of Audience Analysis o Situational Analysis o Demographic Analysis o Psychological Analysis o Multicultural Analysis o Interest and Knowledge Analysis
- Conclusion
- Review Questions and Activities
- Glossary
- References
Table 5.1 Tailoring a Speech to Demographic Characteristics
Demographic Characteristics
Do’s and Don’ts
Ethnicity
Don’t try to use words or phrases to “cuddle up” to one race or another. You would lose some credibility if you made a point in your speech and then said, “So get jiggy with it” or “You could enjoy that with your afternoon tea ceremony” (Pearson, et al, 2011).
Age
Stay away from jargon from one age range or another, like “OMG” or “the cat’s pajamas” (Gamble & Gamble, 2013).
Sex/Gender
Use words that are not sex/gender-specific. Instead of policeman, fireman, and stewardess, use police officer, firefighter, and flight attendant. Do not use one- sex/gender pronouns, like assuming a teacher is a “she” and a dentist is a “he” (Eisenberg & Wynn, 2013).
Income
Some people in your audience will have more money than others. So if you keep fit by maintaining membership in a prominent gym and you take classes there also, don’t assume everyone else can afford to do so. You can tell your audience what you do, but give them options like parking far from the store and working out with a yoga or Pilates CD at home.
Occupation
Unless you are speaking at a convention where everyone in your audience works in the same field, make your speech more explanatory. Your audience has not had extensive training in medical terms nor legal terms. So you need to explain what you are talking about, without using the big words which would make your audience feel confused, stupid, and put down.
Religion
Realize that your audience will likely have a wide variety of religions represented, and some people may have no religious or spiritual beliefs. So you can say that YOU read the Bible every night for 10 minutes, but that you are suggesting that everyone choose a religious or inspirational reading for pre-sleep relaxation (Gamble & Gamble, 2013).
Education Level
Even if you are speaking to an audience of college freshman, not everyone has had the same educational experiences. For example, some of the people in your class may have completed a high school equivalency program like the GED, some may be high school students who are taking a college class, some may have gone to secondary school in another country, some may be home-schooled, and some may have gone to a private honors-based prep school. You need to be careful not to talk down to your audience and not to use fancy sentences and words to try to impress your audience. Gauging the right level of communication for your speech is an important challenge.
This chapter is dedicated to understanding how a speaker connects with an audience through audience analysis by direct observation, analysis by inference, and data collection (Clevenger, 1966). In addition, this chapter explores the five categories of audience analysis: (1) the situational analysis, (2) the demographic analysis, (3) the psychological analysis, (4) the multicultural analysis, and (5) the topic interest and prior knowledge analysis.
approaches to audience
analysis
Whenever thinking about your speech, it is always a good idea to begin with a thorough awareness of your audience and the many factors comprising that particular audience. In speech communication, we simply call this “doing an audience analysis.” An audience analysis is when you consider all of the pertinent elements defining the makeup and demographic characteristics (also known as demographics ) of your audience (McQuail, 1997). From the Greek prefix demo (of the people), we come to understand that there are detailed accounts of human population characteristics, such as age, gender, education, occupation, language, ethnicity, culture, background knowledge, needs and interests, and previously held attitudes, beliefs, and values. Demographics are widely used by advertising and public relations professionals to analyze specific audiences so that their products or ideas will carry influence. However, all good public speakers consider the demographic characteristics of their audience, as well. It is thefundamental stage of preparing for your speech. Table 5.1 shows some examples of demographics and how they may be used when developing your speech. Of course, this is not an all-inclusive list. But, it does help you get a good general understanding of the demographics of the audience you will be addressing.
So now you may be saying to yourself: “Gee, that’s great! How do I go about analyzing my particular
audience?” First, you need to know that there are three overarching methods (or “ paradigms ”) for doing an audience analysis: audience analysis by direct observation, audience analysis by inference, and audience analysis through data collection. Once you get
to know how these methods work, you should be able to select which one (or even combination of these methods) is right for your circumstances.
Koran, we infer that they are also a follower of the Muslim faith. These are reasoned conclusions that we make based upon the evidence available to us and our general knowledge about people and their traits.
When we reason, we make connections, distinctions, and predictions; we use what is known or familiar to us to reach a conclusion about something that is unknown or unfamiliar for it to make sense. Granted, of course, inferences are sometimes wrong. Here’s a familiar example: You reach into a jar full of jelly beans, and they turn out to be all black. You love black jelly beans. You reach back into the jar and take another hand full, which turn out to be, again, all black. Since you can’t see the jelly beans inside the jar you make an assumption based on empirical evidence (two handfuls of jelly beans) that all of the jelly beans are black. You reach into the jar a third time and take a hand full of jelly beans out, but this time they aren’t any black jelly beans, but white, pink, and yellow. Your conclusion that all of the jelly beans were black turned out to be fallacious.
data sampling Unlike audience analysis by direct observation and analysis by inference, audience analysis by data sampling uses statistical evidence to quantify and clarify the characteristics of your audience. These characteristics are also
known as variables (Tucker, et al, 1981), and are assigned a numerical value so we can systematically collect and classify them. They are reported as statistics, also known as quantitative analysis or quantitative data collection. Statistics are numerical summaries of facts, figures, and research findings. Audience analysis by data sampling requires you to survey your audience before you give your speech. You need to know the basics of doing a survey before you actually collect and interpret your data.
If you make listening and
observation your occupation, you
will gain much more than you can
by talk.
~ Robert Baden-Powell
basic questionnaire There are a great number of survey methods available to the speaker. However, we will cover three primary types in this section because they are utilized the most. The first type of survey method you should know about is the basic questionnaire, which is a series of questions advanced to produce demographic and attitudinal data from your audience. Clearly, audience members should not be required to identify themselves by name on the basic questionnaire. Anonymous questionnaires are more likely to produce truthful information. Remember, all you are looking for is a general read of your audience; you should not be looking for specific information about any respondent concerning your questionnaire in particular. It is a bulk sampling tool, only. While you can easily gather basic demographic data (examples of demographic questions are shown in the chart following this section), we need to adjust our questions a bit more tightly, or ask more focused questions, in order to understand the audience’s “predispositions” to think or act in certain ways. For example, you can put an attitudinal extension on the basic
questionnaire (examples of attitudinal questions are shown in Figure 5.1). These questions probe more deeply into the psyche of your audience members, and will help you see where they stand on certain issues. Of course, you may need to tighten these questions to get to the heart of your specific topic. But, once you do, you’ll have a wealth of data at your disposal that, ultimately, will tell you how to work with your target audience.
ordered categories Another method of finding out your audience’s value set is to survey them according to their value hierarchy. A value hierarchy is a person’s value structure placed in relationship to a given value set (Rokeach, 1968). The way to determine a person’s value hierarchy is to use the ordered categories sampling method. Here, each audience member is given a list of values on a piece of paper, and each audience member writes these values on another piece of paper in order according to their importance to him/her. Each response is different, of course, because each audience member is different, but when analyzed by the speaker, common themes will present themselves in the overall data. Accordingly, the speaker can then identify with those common value themes. (Examples of an Ordered Value Set appear in Figure 5.1).
Table 5. Examples of Attitudes
Pro-/Anti-war Pro-diversity Anti-affirmative action Pro-choice Pro-life Pro-/Anti-gambling Pro-/Anti-prostitution Pro-/Anti-capital punishment Pro-/Anti-free trade Pro-/Anti-outsourcing Pro-/Anti-welfare Pro-/Anti-corporate tax cuts Pro-/Anti-censorship
Table 5. Examples of Beliefs
The world was created by God. Marijuana is an addictive gateway drug. Ghosts are all around us.
Smoking causes cancer.
Anyone can acquire HIV.
Evolution is fact, not fiction. Marijuana is neither addictive nor harmful. Ghosts are products of our imagination. Smoking does not cause cancer. Only high-risk groups acquire HIV.
This, of course, raises an extremely important ethical issue for the modern speaker. Given the ability to study demographic data and therefore to study your audience, does a speaker shift his or her message to play to the audience entirely? Ethically, a speaker should not shift his or her message and should remain true to his or her motives. Only you will be able to alleviate the tension between a speaker’s need to adapt to an audience and his or her need to remain true to form (Natalle & Bodenheimer, 2004).
My greatest challenge has been to
change the mindset of people.
Mindsets play strange tricks on us.
We see things the way our minds
have instructed our eyes to see.
~ Muhammad Yunus
psychological analysis Unless your selected speech topic is a complete mystery to your audience, your listeners will already hold “attitudes, beliefs, and values” toward the ideas you will inevitably present. As a result, it is always important to know where your audience stands on the issues you plan to address ahead of time. The best way to accomplish this is to sample your audience with a quick questionnaire or survey prior to the event. This is known as the third category of audience analysis, or psychological description. When performing a description you seek to identify the audience’s attitudes, beliefs, and values (Campbell & Huxman, 2003). They are your keys to understanding how your audience thinks.
attitudes In basic terms, an attitude is a learned disposition to respond in a consistently favorable or unfavorable manner with respect to a person, an object, an idea, or an event (Jastrow, 1918). Attitudes come in different forms. You are very likely to see an attitude present itself when someone says that they are “pro” or “anti” something. But, above all else, attitudes are learned and not necessarily
enduring. Attitudes can change, and sometimes do, whereas beliefs and values do not shift as easily. A sample list of attitudes can be found in Table 5.2. These are just a small range of issues that one can either be “for” or “against.” And, while we are simplifying the social scientific idea of an attitude considerably here, these examples serve our purposes well. Remember, attitudes are not as durable as beliefs and values. But, they are good indicators of how people view the persons, objects, ideas, or events that shape their world.
Other people's beliefs may be
myths, but not mine.
~ Mason Cooley
beliefs Beliefs are principles (Bem, 1970) or assumptions about the universe. Beliefs are more durable than attitudes because beliefs are hinged to ideals and not issues. For example, you may believe in the principle: “what goes around comes around.” If you do, you believe in the notion of karma. And so, you may align your behaviors to be consistent with this belief philosophy. You do not engage in unethical or negative behavior because you believe that it will “come back” to you. Likewise, you may try to exude behaviors that are ethical and positive
because you wish for this behavior to return, in kind. You may not think this at all, and believe quite the opposite. Either way, there is a belief in operation driving what you think. Some examples of beliefs are located in Table 5.3.
values A value, on the other hand, is a guiding belief that regulates our attitudes (Rokeach, 1968). Values are the core principles driving our attitudes. If you probe into someone’s attitudes and beliefs far enough, you will inevitably find an underlying value. Importantly, you should also know that we structure our values in accordance to our own value hierarchy, or mental schema of values placed in order of their relative individual importance. Each of us has our own values that we subscribe to and a value hierarchy that we use to navigate the issues of the world. But we really aren’t even aware that we have a value hierarchy until some of our values come in direct conflict with each other. Then, we have to negotiate something called cognitive dissonance , or the mental stress caused by the choice we are forced to make between two considerable alternatives.
Table 5.4 Examples of Values
Inner Harmony Enjoyment Belonging Friendship Trust Equality Control Family Security Peace Wisdom Tradition Unity Achievement Power Generosity Conformity Intelligence Leadership Creativity Responsibility Health Independence Loyalty
For example, let’s assume that you value “having fun” a great deal. You like to party with your friends and truly enjoy yourself. And, in this day and age, who doesn’t? However, now that you are experiencing a significant amount of independence and personal freedom, you have many life options at your disposal. Let’s also say that some of your close personal friends are doing drugs. You are torn. Part of you wants to experience the “fun” that your close friends may be experiencing; but, the more sane part of you wants to responsibly decline. In honesty, you are juxtaposed between two of your own values—having “fun” and being responsible. This real life example is somewhat exaggerated for your benefit. Realize that we make decisions small and grand, based on our value hierarchies. Some basic values common to people around the world can be found in Table 5.4.
Values aren't buses... They're not
supposed to get you anywhere.
They're supposed to define who
you are.
~ Jennifer Crusie
multicultural analysis Demography looks at issues of race and ethnicity in a basic sense. However, in our increasingly diverse society, it is worthy to pay particular attention to the issue of speaking to a multicultural audience (as discussed in Chapter 14 Speaking to a Global Audience ). Odds are that any real world audience that you encounter will have an underlying multicultural dimension. As a speaker, you need to
recognize that the perspective you have on any given topic may not necessarily be shared by all of the members of your audience (Ting-Toomey & Chung, 2005). Therefore, it is imperative that you become a culturally effective speaker. Culturally effective speakers develop the capacity to appreciate other cultures and acquire the necessary skills to speak effectively to people with diverse ethnic backgrounds. Keep these factors in mind when writing a speech for a diverse audience. language Many people speak different languages, so if you are translating words, do not use slang or jargon, which can be confusing. You could add a visual aid (a poster, a picture, a PowerPoint slide or two) which would show your audience what you mean – which instantly translates into the audience member’s mind (Klopf & Cambra, 1991; Tauber & Mester, 1994). cognition Realize that different cultures have different cultural-cognitive processes, or ways of looking at the very concept of logic itself. Accordingly, gauge your audience as to their diverse ways
of thinking and be sensitive to these differing logics. ethnocentricity Remember that in many cases you will be appealing to people from other cultures. Do not assume that your culture is dominant or better than other cultures. That assumption is called ethnocentrism, and ethnocentric viewpoints have the tendency to drive a wedge between you and your audience (Pearson, et al, 2011).
Christian, Jew, Muslim, shaman,
Zoroastrian, stone, ground,
mountain, river, each has a secret
way of being with the mystery,
unique and not to be judged.
~ Rumi
values Not only do individuals have value systems of their own, but societies promote value systems, as well. Keep in mind the fact that you will be appealing to value hierarchies that are socially-laden, as well as those that are individually-borne. communication styles While you are trying to balance these language, cognition, cultural, and value issues, you should also recognize that some cultures prefer a more animated delivery style than do others. The intelligent speaker will understand this, and adapt his or her verbal and nonverbal delivery accordingly.
interest and knowledge analysis Finally, if the goal of your speech is to deliver a unique and stirring presentation (and it should be), you need to know ahead of time if your audience is interested in what you have to say, and has any prior knowledge about your topic. You do not want to give a boring or trite speech. Instead, you want to put your best work forward, and let your audience see your confidence and preparation shine through. And, you don’t want to make a speech that your audience already knows a lot about. So, your job here is
review questions and activities
review questions
1. Why is it important to conduct an audience analysis prior to developing your speech?
2. What is the purpose of performing a demographics survey?
3. Why is audience analysis by direct observation the most simple of the three paradigms?
4. What are some the problems a speaker faces when delivering an unacquainted-audience presentation?
5. Under what circumstances would a speaker make inferences about an audience during the course of an
audience analysis??
6. What is a variable, and how is it used in data sampling?
7. Why are statistics considered to be a form of quantitative analysis and not qualitative analysis?
8. How does conducting a value hierarchy help the speaker when developing a speech?
9. What value does performing a Likert-type testing of attitudes give the speaker?
10. Which of the Five Categories of Audience Analysis is the most effective, and why do you think that?
11. What are the differences between beliefs, attitudes, and values?
12. What challenges does a speaker face when delivering a speech to a multicultural audience?
activities
1. If you know who your audience will be prior to speaking, try performing a demographic analysis. You may
want to find out data, such as age, group affiliation, sex, socio-economic status, marital status, etc. Once
you’ve done that, see if any of that information can impact any aspects of your speech. If it does, then
determine how and why it impacts your speech.
2. Another survey to conduct is an attitudinal survey. If you are delivering a persuasive speech, you’ll want to
know what your audience thinks about your topic. Audience members who have opinions about things
generally have a self-interest in it; that is why they are interested in what you have to say. Perform a Likert-
type survey analysis to help you determine how best to create your speech.
3. As you know, a person’s values are the most difficult for any speaker to change. You can perform a values
survey to determine how difficult it will be to change the minds of your audience. Every persuasive speech
addresses some value or values. Take a position, such as “consuming horse meat as an alternative to beef,”
and ask potential audience members how they feel about eating horse meat – why and why not. By
conducting a hypothetical survey you begin to understand how to create an effective survey and why it is so
important to the speaker to conduct.
glossary
Attitude
An attitude is a learned disposition to respond in a
consistently favorable or unfavorable manner with
respect to a person, an object, an idea, or an event.
Audience Analysis
A speaker analyzes an audience for demographics,
dispositions and knowledge of the topic.
Beliefs
Beliefs are principles and are more durable than
attitudes because beliefs are hinged to ideals and
not issues.
Cognitive Dissonance
The psychological discomfort felt when a person
is presented with two competing ideas or pieces of
evidence.
Demographics
Demographics are the most recent statistical
characteristics of a population.
Demographic Characteristics
Demographic characteristics are facts about the
make-up of a population.
Demography
Demographics are literally a classification of the
characteristics of the people.
Inference
Making an inference is the act or process of
deriving logical conclusions from premises known
or assumed to be true.
Ordered category
An ordered category is a condition of logical or
comprehensible arrangement among the separate
elements of a group.
Paradigm
A paradigm is a pattern that describes distinct
concepts or thoughts in any scientific discipline or
other epistemological context.
Psychological Description
A psychological description is a description of the
audience’s attitudes, beliefs, and values.
Quantitative Analysis
A quantitative analysis is the process of
determining the value of a variable by examining
its numerical, measurable characteristics.
Statistics
Statistics is the study of the collection,
organization, analysis, and interpretation of data.
Unacquainted-Audience Presentation
An unacquainted-audience presentation is a
speech when you are completely unaware of your
audience’s characteristics.
Uniqueness
Uniqueness occurs when a topic rises to the level
of being exceptional in interest and knowledge to
a given audience.
Variable
A variable is a characteristic of a unit being
observed that may assume more than one of a set
of values to which a numerical measure or a
category from a classification can be assigned.
Value
A value is a guiding belief that regulates our
attitudes.
Value Hierarchy
A value hierarchy is a person’s value structure
placed in relationship to a given value set.
