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Meetings, Conferences, Workshops

1996 Sense-Making Workshop

Workshop Abstracts

COPYRIGHT AND CITATION INFORMATION:
© Brendlinger, Nancy and Brown, N.J.,  1996. Cite as: Brendlinger, Nancy. and Brown, N.J. (1996). Sense-Making Interviews for Facilitating Intercultural Research: The Influence of Gender on the Interpretation of Decision-making by Indonesian University Students. Paper presented at International Communication Association annual meeting, Chicago, Illinois, May 23. Available at: http://communication.sbs.ohio-state.edu/sense-making/meet/m96brend.html

ESSENCE OF PROJECT:
This project was originally designed to test Sense-Making interviewing techniques in a multicultural context outside of the United States. Nancy chose gender and decision-making as the context of the study because she is interested in the relationship between individual agency and power within societal structures that provide constraints and/or opportunities. Gender can be looked upon as a social construct, thus providing insights into societal constraints/opportunities. Gender constructions that would seem "natural" in one setting, might be more easily pinpointed as socially constructed in another. Gendering as a process and decision-making as an activity are sites of individual agency. The two combined seemed like a fertile area to study cross-culturally (researcher and participant) and multiculturally (the students came from many cultures within Indonesia).

N.J. joined the project after the data had been collected. She is interested in feminist theory, particularly issues raised by Third World Feminism such as 'who can speak' and 'who can be heard'? In the past, researchers voices have been privileged over the participants voices by using traditional survey and experimental methods. Sense-Making interviews can provide a way to privilege participants voices while still maintaining a distinct research agenda. She is also interested in grounded theory; theory emerges from the data itself.

N.J. is also interested in Sense-Making. She is familiar with the literature, especially Dr. Dervin's work. This research project has provided her with an opportunity to learn more by using the Sense-Making methodology in reviewing the data Nancy collected and assisting in analysis of the data.

REASON WHY I TOOK THIS ROUTE:
(Nancy) Working in several countries in development projects, I was fascinated by the communication problems in cross cultural contexts. At that time, I was interested in having people tell me what I wanted to know in a way useful to me. In Senegal, for example, if I asked about what an individual considered to be the largest problem facing her village, she would reply with the answer that had been arrived at by consensus through different village organizations, rather than express what I considered to be her personal opinions. In Indonesia, that scenario was likely to bring about a response that the person thought I wanted to hear. U.S. styles of surveys were unproductive. Sense-Making appealed to me initially because I thought it would be a technique to get around these "problems".

Since then, I have become more concerned with discovering how people view their own world as well as ways that would bring multiple voices and viewpoints into discussions -- be it through Journalism (my original training), projects, organizations, or other forums. I've also been struggling with trying to decide if individual are powerful or structures are repressive -- and most recently, a combining and more complex views of these two perspectives.

When I was able to teach for a semester in Indonesia in 1992, I thought this would be a good opportunity to bring these two interests together into a research project.

(N.J.) I'm very interested in Sense-Making. I am somewhat familiar with the literature, especially Dr. Dervin's work. This research project has provided me with an opportunity to learn more by using the Sense-Making methodology. I am learning by reviewing Nancy's data and assisting in the analysis of the data.

THE BEST OF WHAT I HAVE ACHIEVED:
(Nancy) The interviews themselves were not only a lot of fun, but were quite useful for me while I was living in Indonesia. They also gave me an opportunity to talk with thoughtful, reflective, eager, young people who provided many provoking challenges to some of my deep beliefs about gender and power.

WHAT HAS BEEN PARTICULARLY HELPFUL IN THIS PROJECT:
(Nancy) The first is that I have had to delay the analysis part of the project I conducted in Indonesia in 1992, and thus have been able though some other work and reading to further develop my understandings of Sense-Making as more than just a data gathering technique. The second is bringing N.J. into this project, initially as a research assistant and now as a collaborator. Her areas of knowledge and the fresh insights she brings into the project has made me start re-evaluating much of what I thought I already knew.

(N.J.) Having the opportunity to work with Nancy has been a terrific experience. Reading about research and theory can provide only so much when it comes to preparing students to become a part of the academic community and active researchers. It is with the guidance of a mentor who helps us move from `reading about' to `doing' that helps us gain the skills and knowledge that we will need. I have been very fortunate to have Nancy as a mentor, in my opinion, she's the best.

WHAT I HAVE STRUGGLED WITH:
(Nancy) The same things that have been most helpful. In particular, the fact that I have changed during this particular project. My understanding of Sense-Making, feminism and gender have changed since I began this project, and will continue to change. This has been a problem in that if I were to do the project again, I would probably structure the interview differently. I suspect that this frustration will grow as I get back into the interviews themselves and continue the analysis.

WHAT WOULD HELP US NOW:
Feedback on the plans for analyzing this project. Possible strategies for dealing with a flawed data collection process. Reactions to the use of Third World Feminist theory and grounded theory.

PROJECT ABSTRACT:
Twenty-four students in the School of Communication, Padjadjaran University, Bandung, Indonesia were interviewed using a Sense-Making instrument about a decision they had made that related to their gender. Analyses of the data have only recently been began. Many of the students talked about the gender aspect of their decisions in terms of opposition -- be it to parents or other significant people in their lives (often associated with career or life-style choice), or what they perceived as societal expectations (especially in the case of the women). They also saw the gender aspects of the decisions in terms of future responsibilities. Men spoke of learning to make responsible decisions because they would eventually be heads of households. Women spoke about making responsible decisions because they would be caretakers. Some women also spoke about asserting themselves now while they were unmarried because they felt they would be more constrained after marriage. However, these are first impressions and we expect a more in depth understanding to emerge as we began a more thorough examination of the data.