CITATION AND COPYRIGHT INFORMATION:
Cite as: Brendlinger, N. H., Dervin, B., & Foreman-Wernet, L. (1999). When respondents are theorists: An exemplar study in the HIV/AIDS context of the use of Sense-Making as an approach to public communication campaign audience. The Electronic Journal of Communication [On-line serial] 9 (2, 3, & 4).
© The Electronic Journal of Communication (1999).

ABSTRACT:
This article presents an exemplar of the uses of the Sense-Making Methodology in two ways: as a tool for audience research in the formative stages of planning public communication campaigns; and as a methodological critique, offering an empirical comparison of the portrait of the audience that emerged from a Sense-Making driven survey versus a traditional close-ended survey. This article rests on recent critiques of the traditional survey, which until recently was the only acceptable approach to audience research. The critiques call for diversification of research approaches and attention to how surveys often ignore political, economic, social, and cultural issues. The study reported here compared the two audience surveys in the same context—an HIV/AIDS education campaign. The traditional survey consisted primarily of closed-ended measures of knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. The Sense-Making survey elicited respondent narratives regarding three HIV/AIDS related situations using Sense-Making mandated open-ended questions. The resulting portraits of the audience confirmed a major theme in recent audience research literature—that the audience portraits were in many ways incommensurate. The traditional survey appeared to tap frustration and how well audiences had memorized the dominant story, but was missing altogether the stories arising out of situated lives tapped by the Sense-Making survey.

TO OBTAIN FULL TEXT:
Some readers may be able to obtain this journal online at their institutions by accessing www.cios.org. Others may join CIOS under the following options: For a one-year membership, the professional rate is $45.00 US ($40.00 US if you work at a CIOS Institutional or Departmental Affiliate) or $25.00 US for students ($20.00 US if you are a student at a college or university that is a CIOS Institutional or Departmental Affiliate). Others should request access to the full text URL by completing this form. (This will open a new window.)

OTHER MATERIALS BY THESE AUTHORS ON THIS WEB SITE:
For Brendlinger,
See: http://communication.sbs.ohio-state.edu/sense-making/AAauthors/authorlistbrendlinger.html
For Dervin,
See:  http://communication.sbs.ohio-state.edu/sense-making/AAauthors/authorlistdervin.html
For Foreman-Wernet,
See: http://communication.sbs.ohio-state.edu/sense-making/AAauthors/authorlistforemanwernet.html