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Audience Analysis PDF
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chapter 5
introduction
Robert E. Mullins, a well-known
local bank officer, was preparing a chapter objectives chapter outline
After reading this chapter, you should be able
speech for the Rotary Club in Dallas, to:
Texas on the topic of “finding the • Introduction
1. List techniques for • Approaches to Audience
right loan” for a rather diverse analyzing a specific target
Analysis
audience. He knew his topic audience.
o Direct Observation
extremely well, had put a lot of hard 2. Explain audience analysis
o Inference
work into his research, and had his by direct observation.
o Sampling
3. Describe audience analysis
visual aids completely in order. One • Categories of Audience
by inference.
of the things he had not fully Analysis
4. Identify the purpose of a
considered, however, was the o Situational Analysis
basic questionnaire.
audience to which he would be o Demographic Analysis
5. Recognize and apply data
speaking. On the day of the o Psychological Analysis
sampling.
presentation, Mr. Mullins delivered a o Multicultural Analysis
6. Determine when to use a
flawless speech on “secured” car and o Interest and Knowledge
Likert-type test.
Analysis
home loans, but the speech was not 7. Define the five categories
• Conclusion
received particularly well. You see, of audience analysis.
• Review Questions and Activities
on this particular week, a major 8. Summarize the purpose of
• Glossary
segment of the audience consisted of the situational analysis.
• References
the “Junior Rotarians” who wanted 9. Explain audience analysis
to hear about “personal savings by demography.
accounts” and “college savings 10. Recognize the difference
between beliefs, attitudes We analyze our audience because we
plans.” It was a critical error. Had
and values. want to discover information that will
Mr. Mullins considered the full 11. Identify reasons for help create a bond between the speaker
nature and demographic makeup of sampling a multicultural and the audience. We call this bond
his audience prior to the event, he audience. “identification.” Aristotle loosely called
might not have been received so 12. Apply the chapter it “finding a common ground.” This
poorly. concepts in final questions isn’t a one-way process between the
and activities.
In contemporary public speaking, the speaker and the audience; rather, it is a
audience that you are addressing is the two-way transactional process. When
entire reason you are giving the speech; you ask an audience to listen to your
accordingly, the audience is therefore ideas, you are inviting them to come
the most important component of all audience is assembled for a very real partway into your personal and
speechmaking. It cannot be said often and significant reason: they want to professional experience as an expert
or more forcefully enough: know your hear what you have to say. So, be speaker. And, in return, it is your
audience! Knowing your audience— prepared. responsibility and obligation to go
their beliefs, attitudes, age, education partway into their experience as an
level, job functions, language, and audience. The more you know and
culture—is the single most important Spectacular achievement is always understand about your audience and
aspect of developing your speech preceded by unspectacular their psychological needs, the better
strategy and execution plan. Your preparation. you can prepare your speech and your
audience isn’t just a passive group of ~ Robert H. Schuller enhanced confidence will reduce your
people who come together by own speaker anxiety (Dwyer, 2005).
happenstance to listen to you. Your
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Chapter 5 Audience Analysis www.publicspeakingproject.org
appreciate each audience member as always best to try and find some time to
both a human being and as an audience sit down and talk with someone you
Nothing has such power to member. You will come to understand trust (or even several people) who
broaden the mind as the ability to what interests them, convinces them, or might be familiar with the given
investigate systematically and even makes them laugh. You might audience. These conversations can be
truly all that comes under thy arouse interest and curiosity in your very constructive in helping you
observation in life. topic while you also gain valuable data. understand the context in which you
will be speaking.
~ Marcus Aurelius
Not understanding the basic
demographic characteristics of an
direct observation audience, or further, that audience’s
Audience analysis by direct beliefs, values, or attitudes about a
observation, or direct experience, is, by given topic makes your presentation
far, the most simple of the three goals haphazard, at best. Look around
paradigms for “getting the feel” of a the room at the people who will be
particular audience. It is a form of listening to your speech. What types of
qualitative data gathering. We perceive gender, age, ethnicity, and educational-
it through one or more of our five level characteristics are represented?
natural senses—hearing, seeing, What are their expectations for your
touching, tasting, and smelling. presentation? This is all-important
Knowledge that we acquire through information you should know before
personal experience has more impact you begin your research and drafting
on us than does knowledge that we your outline. Who is it that I am going
learn indirectly. Knowledge acquired to be talking to?
from personal experience is also more For example, you want to deliver a
likely to affect our thinking and will be persuasive speech about boycotting
retained for a longer period of time. farm-raised fish. You could conduct a
We are more likely to trust what we If we knew what it was we were
short attitudinal survey to discover doing, it would not be called
hear, see, feel, taste, and smell rather what your audience thinks about the
than what we learn from secondary topic, if they eat farm-raised fish, and if
research, would it?
sources of information (Pressat, 1972). they believe it is healthy for them. This ~ Albert Einstein
All you really need to do for this information will help you when you
method of observation is to examine construct your speech because you will inference
your audience. If you are lucky enough know their attitudes about the subject. Audience analysis by inference is
to be able to do this before speaking to You would be able to avoid merely a logical extension of your
your audience, you will be able to constructing a speech that potentially observations drawn in the method
gather some basic reflective data (How could do the opposite of what you above. It is a form of critical thinking
old are they? What racial mix does this intended. known as inductive reasoning, and
audience have? Does their non-verbal Another example would be that you another form of qualitative data
behavior indicate that they are excited want to deliver an informative speech gathering. An inference is when you
to hear this speech?) that will help you about your town’s recreational make a reasoned tentative conclusion
arrange your thoughts and arguments activities and facilities. Your focus can or logical judgment on the basis of
for your speech (Nierenberg & Calero, be aligned with your audience if, before available evidence. It is best used
1994). you begin working on your speech, you when you can identify patterns in your
One excellent way to become find out if your audience has senior evidence that indicate something is
informed about your audience is to ask citizens and/or high school students expected to happen again or should
them about themselves. In its most and/or new parents. hold true based upon previous
basic form, this is data collection. experiences. A good speaker knows
Clearly this cannot be done in every how to interpret information and draw
Whenever possible, have conversations speaking situation, however. Often, we
with them – interact with members of conclusions from that information. As
are required to give an unacquainted- individuals we make inferences—or
your audience – get to know them on a audience presentation. Unacquainted-
personal level (Where did you go to reasonable assumptions—all the time.
audience presentations are speeches For example, when we hear someone
school? Do you have siblings/pets? when you are completely unfamiliar
What kind of car do you drive?) speaking Arabic, we infer that they are
with the audience and its from the Middle East. When we see
Through these types of conversations, demographics. In these cases, it is
you will be able to get to know and this person carrying a copy of The
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Koran, we infer that they are also a known as variables (Tucker, et al, questionnaire (examples of attitudinal
follower of the Muslim faith. These are 1981), and are assigned a numerical questions are shown in Figure 5.1).
reasoned conclusions that we make value so we can systematically collect These questions probe more deeply
based upon the evidence available to us and classify them. They are reported as into the psyche of your audience
and our general knowledge about statistics, also known as quantitative members, and will help you see where
people and their traits. analysis or quantitative data collection. they stand on certain issues. Of course,
When we reason, we make Statistics are numerical summaries of you may need to tighten these questions
connections, distinctions, and facts, figures, and research findings. to get to the heart of your specific
predictions; we use what is known or Audience analysis by data sampling topic. But, once you do, you’ll have a
familiar to us to reach a conclusion requires you to survey your audience wealth of data at your disposal that,
about something that is unknown or before you give your speech. You need ultimately, will tell you how to work
unfamiliar for it to make sense. to know the basics of doing a survey with your target audience.
Granted, of course, inferences are before you actually collect and interpret
sometimes wrong. Here’s a familiar your data.
example: You reach into a jar full of
jelly beans, and they turn out to be all
black. You love black jelly beans. If you make listening and
You reach back into the jar and take observation your occupation, you
another hand full, which turn out to be, will gain much more than you can
again, all black. Since you can’t see by talk.
the jelly beans inside the jar you make ~ Robert Baden-Powell
an assumption based on empirical
evidence (two handfuls of jelly beans)
that all of the jelly beans are black. basic questionnaire
There are a great number of survey
You reach into the jar a third time and
methods available to the speaker.
take a hand full of jelly beans out, but
However, we will cover three primary
this time they aren’t any black jelly
types in this section because they are
beans, but white, pink, and yellow.
utilized the most. The first type of
Your conclusion that all of the jelly
survey method you should know about
beans were black turned out to be
is the basic questionnaire, which is a
fallacious.
series of questions advanced to produce
data sampling demographic and attitudinal data from
Unlike audience analysis by direct your audience. ordered categories
observation and analysis by inference, Another method of finding out your
Clearly, audience members should
audience analysis by data sampling audience’s value set is to survey them
not be required to identify themselves
uses statistical evidence to quantify and according to their value hierarchy. A
by name on the basic questionnaire.
clarify the characteristics of your value hierarchy is a person’s value
Anonymous questionnaires are more
audience. These characteristics are also structure placed in relationship to a
likely to produce truthful information.
given value set (Rokeach, 1968). The
Remember, all you are looking for is a
way to determine a person’s value
general read of your audience; you
hierarchy is to use the ordered
should not be looking for specific
categories sampling method. Here,
information about any respondent
each audience member is given a list of
concerning your questionnaire in
values on a piece of paper, and each
particular. It is a bulk sampling tool,
audience member writes these values
only.
on another piece of paper in order
While you can easily gather basic according to their importance to
demographic data (examples of him/her. Each response is different, of
demographic questions are shown in course, because each audience member
the chart following this section), we is different, but when analyzed by the
need to adjust our questions a bit more speaker, common themes will present
tightly, or ask more focused questions, themselves in the overall data.
in order to understand the audience’s Accordingly, the speaker can then
“predispositions” to think or act in identify with those common value
certain ways. For example, you can put themes. (Examples of an Ordered
an attitudinal extension on the basic Value Set appear in Figure 5.1).
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This, of course, raises an extremely Table 5.2 because you wish for this behavior to
important ethical issue for the modern return, in kind. You may not think this
Examples of Attitudes
speaker. Given the ability to study at all, and believe quite the opposite.
demographic data and therefore to Pro-/Anti-war Either way, there is a belief in
study your audience, does a speaker Pro-diversity operation driving what you think.
shift his or her message to play to the Anti-affirmative action
Some examples of beliefs are located in
audience entirely? Ethically, a speaker Table 5.3.
Pro-choice
should not shift his or her message and
Pro-life Table 5.3
should remain true to his or her
Pro-/Anti-gambling Examples of Beliefs
motives. Only you will be able to
alleviate the tension between a Pro-/Anti-prostitution
Pro-/Anti-capital punishment The world was created by
speaker’s need to adapt to an audience God.
and his or her need to remain true to Pro-/Anti-free trade
Marijuana is an addictive
form (Natalle & Bodenheimer, 2004). Pro-/Anti-outsourcing
gateway drug.
Pro-/Anti-welfare
My greatest challenge has been to Ghosts are all around us.
Pro-/Anti-corporate tax cuts
change the mindset of people. Pro-/Anti-censorship Smoking causes cancer.
Mindsets play strange tricks on us.
We see things the way our minds Anyone can acquire HIV.
have instructed our eyes to see. enduring. Attitudes can change, and
sometimes do, whereas beliefs and
~ Muhammad Yunus Evolution is fact, not fiction.
values do not shift as easily. A sample
list of attitudes can be found in Table Marijuana is neither addictive
nor harmful.
psychological analysis 5.2.
Ghosts are products of our
Unless your selected speech topic is These are just a small range of issues imagination.
a complete mystery to your audience,
your listeners will already hold
that one can either be “for” or Smoking does not cause
“against.” And, while we are cancer.
“attitudes, beliefs, and values” toward simplifying the social scientific idea of
the ideas you will inevitably present. Only high-risk groups acquire
an attitude considerably here, these HIV.
As a result, it is always important to examples serve our purposes well.
know where your audience stands on Remember, attitudes are not as durable values
the issues you plan to address ahead of as beliefs and values. But, they are A value, on the other hand, is a
time. The best way to accomplish this good indicators of how people view the guiding belief that regulates our
is to sample your audience with a quick persons, objects, ideas, or events that attitudes (Rokeach, 1968). Values are
questionnaire or survey prior to the shape their world. the core principles driving our attitudes.
event. This is known as the third If you probe into someone’s attitudes
category of audience analysis, or Other people's beliefs may be and beliefs far enough, you will
psychological description. When myths, but not mine. inevitably find an underlying value.
performing a description you seek to ~ Mason Cooley Importantly, you should also know that
identify the audience’s attitudes, we structure our values in accordance
beliefs, and values (Campbell & to our own value hierarchy, or mental
Huxman, 2003). They are your keys beliefs schema of values placed in order of
to understanding how your Beliefs are principles (Bem, 1970) or
their relative individual importance.
audience thinks. assumptions about the universe.
Each of us has our own values that we
Beliefs are more durable than attitudes
attitudes subscribe to and a value hierarchy that
because beliefs are hinged to ideals and
In basic terms, an attitude is a we use to navigate the issues of the
not issues. For example, you may
learned disposition to respond in a world. But we really aren’t even aware
believe in the principle: “what goes
consistently favorable or unfavorable that we have a value hierarchy until
around comes around.” If you do, you
manner with respect to a person, an some of our values come in direct
believe in the notion of karma. And so,
object, an idea, or an event (Jastrow, conflict with each other. Then, we
you may align your behaviors to be
1918). Attitudes come in different have to negotiate something called
consistent with this belief philosophy.
forms. You are very likely to see an cognitive dissonance, or the mental
You do not engage in unethical or
attitude present itself when someone stress caused by the choice we are
negative behavior because you believe
says that they are “pro” or “anti” forced to make between two
that it will “come back” to you.
something. But, above all else, considerable alternatives.
Likewise, you may try to exude
attitudes are learned and not necessarily
behaviors that are ethical and positive
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review questions
1. Why is it important to conduct an audience analysis prior to developing your speech?
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??
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.
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Chapter 5 Audience Analysis www.publicspeakingproject.org
glossary
Beliefs Statistics
Beliefs are principles and are more durable than Statistics is the study of the collection,
attitudes because beliefs are hinged to ideals and organization, analysis, and interpretation of data.
not issues.
Unacquainted-Audience Presentation
Cognitive Dissonance An unacquainted-audience presentation is a
The psychological discomfort felt when a person speech when you are completely unaware of your
is presented with two competing ideas or pieces of audience’s characteristics.
evidence.
Uniqueness
Demographics Uniqueness occurs when a topic rises to the level
Demographics are the most recent statistical of being exceptional in interest and knowledge to
characteristics of a population. a given audience.
Paradigm
A paradigm is a pattern that describes distinct
concepts or thoughts in any scientific discipline or
other epistemological context.
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