Presentation given to the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Advertising students on how to approach research.
Lots of nicked material but special shout out to Paul Isakson for his contributions.
3. CURIOSITY = SEARCH
cu·ri·os·i·ty (n) : Interest leading to inquiry
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4. SEARCH = RESEARCH
re·search (n): investigation or experimentation aimed at the discovery and interpretation of facts,
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10. B E I DLE
Because the idle mind is still working
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11. B E I DLE
“Raichle suspects that during these moments of errant thought, the
brain is forming a set of mental rules about our world, particularly
our social world, that help us navigate human interactions and
quickly make sense of and react to information”
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20. W H Y O B S E R V AT I O N ?
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21. W H Y O B S E R V AT I O N ?
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22. P EO P LE WO N’T TE LL YO U TH E AN SWE R
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23. P EO P LE WO N’T CAN’T TE LL YO U TH E AN SWE R
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24. D ETO U R: H OW TH E B R AI N WO R KS
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25. SYSTE M 1 VS. SYSTE M 2
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26. ACTION COM ES B E FOR E THOUG HT
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27. ACTION COM ES B E FOR E THOUG HT
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28. H E R D M E N TA L I T Y
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29. H E R D M E N TA L I T Y
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30. THE CONSEQUENCES
We post rationalize why we do things.
Gut reaction and heuristics - engines of the sub-conscious -
drive a lot of what we do.
What we do has a lot to do with what other people are doing
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31. So how do we overcome this?
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32. D O N ’ T A LW AY S TA L K - F I R S T S I T A N D W AT C H
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33. D O N ’ T A LW AY S TA L K - F I R S T S I T A N D W AT C H
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34. B E A N A N T H R O P O LO G I S T
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35. O B S E R V E S TAT U S
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36. R I T U A LS O R R I T E S O F PA S S A G E
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37. A C C U LT U R AT I O N
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38. S E M I OTI CS
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39. H O U S E H O L D O R G A N I Z AT I O N
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40. G E N DE R ROLES
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42. O N L I N E A N T H R O P O LO GY
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43. R E M E M B E R : T H E C L O U D S D O N ’ T A LW AY S P A R T
Think small
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44. I T S O K T O N O T S AY “ A H A ”
Observing can...
• Tell you about how your brand could better integrate into that
group
• Tell you that your product isn’t good enough and that you
need to make some changes
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45. What do you when observation is not enough?
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47. M ETHOD ACTI NG
Immerse yourself in your category
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48. METHOD TECHNIQUES
Sensory memory exercises
• Method actors learn to use sense memory to recall emotional
experiences from their past. Instead of trying to remember or force an
emotion, the actor tries to re-create with his senses the circumstances
surrounding the experience.
Live their life, read what they read, dress the way they do, take
their challenges
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50. So what happens when you actually have to talk to people?
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51. 4. Ask + Project
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52. Y O U O F T E N C A N ’ T A S K D I R E C T LY
“Kahneman says that people are remarkably adept at coming
up with answers to all kinds of questions without knowing how
or why (surveys researchers beware!). His explanation for a lot
of this is the idea of substitution. That is, people answer an
easier but wrong question rather than the difficult one they
were asked.”
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53. TH E PROB LE M: B IASES
Irrational escalation – the phenomenon where Clustering illusion – the tendency to Conjunction fallacy – the tendency
people justify increased investment in a under-expect runs, streaks or to assume that specific conditions
decision, based on the cumulative prior clusters in small samples of random are more probable than general
investment data ones
Anchoring – the tendency to rely too Availability heuristic – the tendency to
heavily, or "anchor," on a past overestimate the likelihood of events Contrast effect – the enhancement
with greater "availability" in memory, Confirmation bias – the tendency to
reference or on one trait or piece of or diminishing of a weight or other
which can be influenced by how recent search for or interpret information in
information when making decisions measurement when compared with a
the memories are, or how unusual or a way that confirms one's
(also called "insufficient adjustment") recently observed contrasting object
emotionally charged they may be preconceptions.
Attentional bias – the tendency of
emotionally dominant stimuli in Information bias– the
Loss aversion – "the Unit bias – the tendency to want to finish
one's environment to tendency to seek information
disutility of giving up an a given unit of a task or an item. Strong
preferentially draw and hold even when it cannot affect
object is greater than the effects on the consumption of food in
attention and to neglect relevant action.[39]
utility associated with particular
data when making judgments of acquiring it"
a correlation or association.
Conservatism or regressive bias –
Ambiguity effect – the Pseudocertainty effect – the tendency tendency to underestimate high Well travelled road effect –
tendency to avoid options for to make risk-averse choices if the values and high likelihoods/ underestimation of the duration
which missing information expected outcome is positive, but probabilities/frequencies and taken to traverse oft-traveled routes
makes the probability seem make risk-seeking choices to avoid overestimate low ones. Based on and overestimation of the duration
"unknown." negative outcomes the observed evidence, estimates taken to traverse less familiar routes.
are not extreme enough
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54. S O M E S O LUTI O N S
Projection vs. direct questioning
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55. S O M E S O LUTI O N S
Stories vs. Q&A
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56. S O M E S O LUTI O N S
Interviewing their friends vs. interviewing them
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57. S O M E S O LUTI O N S
Imagery vs. words
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58. S O M E S O LUTI O N S
Account for group effects
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