Milestone 2

Milestone 2:

What we have done:

- we have constructed a draft questionnaire which we piloted and have since edited again using the feedback we received from the recipients and the advice given to us by Alison Sealey, to produce our final draft ready to distribute

- we have met on a weekly basis either at the library or the mason lounge to discuss our progress since the beginning of the module

- we have primarily communicated through Facebook on a regular basis on top of meeting every week in order to keep track of each others progress and brainstorm any ideas or potential points of discussion for the next meeting

- we have all contributed significantly in terms of coming up with ideas, putting them into practice and recording our progress on the blog itself

- we have all completed background reading in preparation once we decided upon our topic (individual's completed reading will be put up shortly)

- we have decided upon giving out our questionnaires by hand and have a rough outline of the methodology in interpreting the results

What we will do:

- Distribute 10 questionnaires each, giving us a total of 50 to analyse the results

- Once we have collected the results, we can interpret the data it gives us in terms of addressing our topic of gender and age in taboo language

- Once data has been interpreted we will start thinking about our presentation and what we want to include as well as how we will present our findings

Feedback we have addressed:

- we have decided to have 5 age groups as we think that splitting them in this way will allow us to obtain gradual trends and will give us more specific findings of which we can subsequently present; we do acknowledge that there will be overlap between the age groups but we have taken it into consideration and believe that our age groups we specify in the questionnaire will be the most productive

- From the feedback we received from Alison Sealey we have decided to add 2 further questions on context and 1 on gender in our final questionnaire

- in terms of the feedback regarding how we are planning to select recipients we have decided to target people that fit the age groups so we can get a relatively equal selection of data from each age group, ensuring we have enough data to present when referring across the age groups

in terms of the feedback regarding how we are planning to distribute questionnaire we have decided to give them out by hand as only 1/3 of online questionnaires are completed (Alison Sealey), also we felt for the older age category it may not be appropriate as they could be less familiar with the techonology. While we do acknowledge the notion that a recipient may be less likely to give truthful answer in the questionnaire with one of us present, we are considering giving a number of questionnaires to a group of people and having them put them in an envelope so before giving it back to us (similar to the way in which the University of Birmingham obtains feedback in several of its departments), which could make them give more truthful answers.

We are meeting again next week and hope to have some data by then!!!

11/11/11

Group 2

Louis

Sam

Charlie

Charlotte

Rebecca

Our questionnaire

This questionnaire has been created by English Language students to investigate how the use of taboo language differs with age. Due to the nature of this investigation, some language may be considered offensive, but it is purely for research purposes, so please answer as honestly as possible. By completing it, you are giving your consent for the information you provide to be used in the previously mentioned investigation. All personal details are anonymous and if you have any queries, please contact Louis Atkinson at louis.atkinson@yahoo.co.uk or Samantha Guess at SXG006@bham.ac.uk

Thank you for taking the time to complete this questionnaire.


Please circle the following category that applies to you:

Gender: Male Female

Age group: 18-25 26-35 36-45 46-55 56+



Look at these words and answer the following questions:
1) Bloody
2) Cunt
3) Fuck
4) Shit
5) Twat


1. Are you unfamiliar with any of the words above? (Circle yes or no below)

YES NO

If yes, please state:________________________________________________



2. Which word are you most likely to in the following contexts (you can use the words more than once, or you can leave a space blank if you feel that none of the words are appropriate):

Anger/Frustration:____________________________________________________
Direct Insult:_________________________________________________________
For emphasis/exaggeration______________________________________________
Everyday conversation:_________________________________________________
Joy:_________________________________________________________________
Term of endearment:___________________________________________________



3. On a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being least offensive and 5 being most offensive, how would you rank these words? (Please circle)

Bloody 1 2 3 4 5
Cunt 1 2 3 4 5
Fuck 1 2 3 4 5
Shit 1 2 3 4 5
Twat 1 2 3 4 5


4. On a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being never and 5 being most frequently, how often do you use these words? (Please circle)
Bloody 1 2 3 4 5
Cunt 1 2 3 4 5
Fuck 1 2 3 4 5
Shit 1 2 3 4 5
Twat 1 2 3 4 5


5. Which word in the English Language do you find the most offensive? (You can select a word from inside or outside the five we have given you)

____________________________________________________________________________



6. If you have any further comments about taboo language, please feel free to express them:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Our revised Group Learning Agreement:

The topic we have chosen to investigate is swearing. Our original idea was to investigate how the use of taboo language differed according to gender, but as Alison Sealey has highlighted, there is an unclear distinction between the concept of ‘male’ and ‘female’ and so it would prove difficult. Because of this, we have decided to re-direct our investigation and look at the use of taboo language across different age groups.

Relevant Reading:
Our chosen topic requires a lot of background research, and not just to do with swearing itself. Having said this, most of our reading will focus on swearing, and so far we have found the following:

*Language and Gender by Mary Talbot
*Forbidden Words by Keith Allan and Kate Burridge
*Men Talk by Jennifer Coates
*Swearing in English: Bad Language, Purity and Power 1586 to the present by Tony McEnery
*Swearing: A Social History of Foul Language, Oaths and Profanity in English by Geoffrey *Hughes Gender and Discourse: The Power of Talk by Alexandra Todd and Sue Fisher
*Corpus and Sociolingustics: Investigating Age and Gender in Female Talk by Brona Murphy
*Why We Curse: A Neuro-psych-social Theory of Speech by Timothy Jay
*Researching English Language: A Resource Book for Students by Alison Sealey
*Foccussing on Language by Mark Sebba

This background reading will highlight any similar studies that can help us during our investigation, especially with any problems that could be encountered. It will also be useful in giving our findings context and support.


What Our Research Will Answer:
The main question we want to answer is: How do attitudes towards swearing differ between age groups? To achieve this, we need to ask more specific questions focusing on:

*The familiarity of the participant with specific swear words
*The contexts in which the participant may use swear words
*How offensive the participant finds specific swear words
*The frequency that swear words are used by the participant

We are interested to know if swearing is considered more offensive by one particular age group, or if it is viewed in a similar way by people of all ages. We would also like to find out whether patterns of use vary notably across age groups – for example, does one group swear more on average? Context is very important in the use of swearing and we would like to find out if age has an impact on when/why people swear.


Methodology:
To carry out our investigation, we will be using questionnaires - we plan to send out 50. We will attempt to gather an equal number of samples from each age group, but the individuals themselves will be selected randomly.

We will include questions confirming age and gender, as well as questions addressing the use and attitudes of the participant towards swearing.

We are aware of the sensitivity of our research topic, and will endeavour to cause as little offense to our participant as possible by incorporating a statement explaining who we are and the nature of our investigation. In accordance with BAAL ethical guidelines, we will ensure that potential participant have a full understanding of the investigation and our intentions for the data collected, and that they give full consent to take part.


Data:
The majority of the data we collect will come from closed questions regarding:
*Age (brackets)
*Gender
*Familiarity with swear words
*Offensiveness of swear words
*Context of use
*Frequency of use

However we intend to incorporate a number of open questions in order to broaden our data and give perspective to potential patterns within our findings.


Analysis Methodology:
We will quantify the data and look for potential patterns and recurrent answers before suggesting links to age in accordance with our reading. We will use scatter graphs to display and illustrate our findings.


Presentation:
We will be presenting our findings through a vodcast – a video podcast.

Proposal

Research Skills English Language Proposal

Group 2:

• Charlotte Ashley
• Charie Allen
• Louis Atkinson
• Rebecca Marshall
• Samantha Guess

Research Topic:

The topic we have chosen to investigate is swearing. We have decided to look at the differences in the use of taboo language between male and female.

Relevant Reading:

Our chosen topic requires a lot of background research, and not just to do with swearing itself. Having said this, most of our reading will focus on swearing, and so far we have found the following:

• Language and Gender by Mary Talbot
• Forbidden Words by Keith Allan and Kate Burridge
• Men Talk by Jennifer Coates
• Researching English Language: A Resource Book for Students by Alison Sealey
• Swearing in English: Bad Language, Purity and Power 1586 to the present by Tony McEnery
• Swearing: A Social History of Foul Language, Oaths and Profanity in English by Geoffrey Hughes
• Gender and Discourse: The Power of Talk by Alexandra Todd and Sue Fisher
• Corpus and Sociolingustics: Investigating Age and Gender in Female Talk by Brona Murphy
• Why We Curse: A Neuro-psych-social Theory of Speech by Timothy Jay

This background reading will highlight any similar studies that can help us during our investigation, especially with any problems that could be encountered. We have come across one problem whilst conducting preliminary research, and so have found some relevant reading to help us combat that. Alison Sealey has highlighted the problem of distinguishing gender because of the unclear distinction between male and female; not all males are masculine and not all females are feminine. Because of this, we have included some books addressing gender dysphoria and gender identity:

• Ambiguity and Sexuality by Williams S. Wilkerson
• Masculinity and Femininity by Geert Hofstede

What Our Research Will Answer:

The main question we want to answer is: How do the attitudes towards swearing differ between men and women? To achieve this, we are asking more specific questions which are:

• Which word is deemed more offensive in the opinion of women compared to the opinion of men?
• Which word is used more frequently used by women and by men?

We are interested to know if the words deemed more offensive will be the same according to both genders, or if one word which is deemed more offensive by women, may be the most frequently used by men, or vice versa.

Methodology:

To carry out our investigation, we will be using questionnaires. We plan to send out 50 questionnaires, 25 to women and 25 to men. In our questionnaires, we will include questions asking after gender, location and age, as well asking the attitudes towards swearing. Although our investigation is based on gender, we will take into consideration age and social background to make the investigation a fair representation of men and women.

Data:

The data we will collect includes:

• Age (brackets)
• Gender
• Location
• Most offensive word (we will have ranking questions, so the participant can rank the most offensive to least offensive)
• Most frequently used swear word

Analysis Methodology:

We will analyse the data using scatter graphs. Scatter graphs will allow us to easily see any patterns/correlation between the male and female data.

Presentation:

We will be presenting our findings through a vodcast – a video podcast.

Research 2

I have wandered around the library and picked up some books:

- Swearing in English (Tony McEnery)

- Gender and Discourse (Alex Todd and Sue Fisher)

- Swearing (Geoffrey Hughes)

I also found some books about gender dysphoria which will be useful when trying to clarify gender.

research

i think i have conquered it!! does it work#??
remember to all try and research into other works...i have already found a really good booklet of the issue with studies that maybe people could get from the library?
I will get the books by the authors Coates, and Anderson & Trudghill - Rebecca Marshall.
If you manage to collect the list I am about to write post the books/names of authors etc and your name as to whose got it etc...
1) Bailey and Timm 1976
2) Hopper, Coleman & Daly 1980
3) Oliver & Rubin 1975
4) Sewell 1984
5) Staley 1978
6)Wilson 1975

These are all studies that have been used by coates and also investigated they re own research into "Gender variation in swearing".

Hope this helps!
Bex

Update

We have a meeting tomorrow at 1.30pm, in the Library (meet outside).

Can everyone post on this to make sure it works?

Thank you (: