1. How Gender Affects the Topic of
Conversation
How quickly different genders
dismiss topics of conversation not
typical to their genders?
2. How would I test this?
• I would gather three sets of three groups of the same
age, each with an equal amount of people in. One
group would be all male, another all female and the
third would be a equal mix of both. From this I would
give them a couple of conversation starters, one a topic
typically discussed my men, another typically
discussed by female and the last a unisex topic. From
here, I would record their conversations to be written
up as transcripts and analyse their language, seeing
how quickly they change the topic. I would rely on the
people involved letting the conversation develop
naturally instead of containing it for the purposes of
the experiement.
3. How would I Process the Results?
• By recording the conversations, I would be able
to see how long in minutes and seconds it would
take until each group changed topic and also
what tangents or topic shifts within the original
stimulus of the conversation the group talk
about. Their reaction to the stimulus can be
evaluated by the tone of their voice, their use of
language and use of language features typical to
their gender. This experiment would look at
prior knowledge of language and gender and
whether mixed or single sex groups respond to
topics differently based on their gender or who
they are in a group with.
4. Previous Experiments In This Area
• http://www.homestar.org/bryannan/tannen.ht
ml
• Evidence we looked at when studying
Language and Gender (including various
theorists etc)
