COMM101 Study Guide
Unit 2: Audience Analysis and Effective Listening
2a. Describe ways to establish credibility based on a specific audience's traits
- How can a speaker use demographic information to establish credibility?
- How does psychographic analysis help a speaker appear more trustworthy?
- In what way does situational analysis impact perceived expertise?
- How can a speaker establish credibility by addressing audience knowledge levels?
As part of the speech creation process, speakers conduct research – both on their chosen topic and on their audience. An audience analysis is the speaker's research regarding the group of people who they will make their presentation to. This analysis includes understanding who will receive your message. What do they already know about your topic, and what do they need to know about your topic, as well as their needs and values, and how the situation where you are presenting might affect their interpretation of your message? A speaker can use what they know about their audience to build their credibility – the perception that the speaker is an honest, knowledgeable, and ethically motivated source of information.
A speaker can use demographic information to establish credibility with their audience by tailoring the content of their presentation to acknowledge the demographic variables of their audience. Demographics are characteristics about a group that you can easily observe, such as age, gender, or occupation. Credibility is built when you avoid stereotypes and show that you have considered the specific life experiences and diversity of the people in the audience.
Psychographic analysis can help a speaker appear more trustworthy. Psychographics are the psychological variables that help you understand how an audience thinks. By identifying the audience's values, beliefs, and attitudes, a speaker can align their message with what the audience already finds important. When a speaker demonstrates that they share or respect the audience's values, the audience is more likely to perceive the speaker as someone who understands their perspective.
The situation where we engage with our audience also affects our credibility as a speaker. As part of our audience analysis, we also conduct situation analysis by examining the occasion and environment where the presentation is made. By adapting to the physical environment and the occasion, the speaker shows the audience that they are prepared and professional. For example, if the speaker acknowledges the specific reason the audience is gathered or adjusts their delivery to accommodate a large room, they demonstrate situational competence and respect for the audience's time.
A speaker can establish their credibility by addressing audience knowledge levels by accurately gauging the audience's prior knowledge of a topic. If you talk down to your audience with overly simple information, you lose credibility. Speaking to your audience's knowledge level shows that you have done the work to make the content relevant and accessible for them.
Review
To review, see:
- What Is an Audience Analysis?
- Why Conduct an Audience Analysis?
- Three Types of Audience Analysis
- Conducting Audience Analysis
- Using Your Audience Analysis
- Audience Analysis
2b. Explain the influence that demographic, psychographic, and situational information has on understanding your audience
- How do psychographics provide a deeper understanding of an audience than demographics alone?
- What specific adjustments should a speaker make based on the situational factor of time of day?
- How can a speaker use demographic data to find common ground?
- In what way does an audience's attitude toward a topic dictate the speaker's choice of arguments?
Demographic, psychographic, and situational information from our audience analysis will influence how we craft and deliver our messages. Psychographics cover internal beliefs, values, and attitudes, while demographics cover external traits such as age and gender. By focusing on values, beliefs, and attitudes, a speaker can understand the reasons behind an audience's behavior and predict how they might react to a specific message, which demographic data alone cannot do.
Situational factors include the occasion you are speaking at and the presentation environment. If you are making a speech to an audience in the morning, you may need to summon more energy in your delivery to engage your audience with your message. If you are speaking to a late-afternoon audience, you may need to be more concise because they may be concerned about beating the evening rush-hour traffic.
Demographics can be used to establish common ground with your audience by identifying shared experiences or values, helping you build a bridge between you and your audience. Part of a good audience analysis is gaining some insight into your audience's pre-existing opinions or attitudes about your topic.
If an audience is hostile, then you must find some shared values before moving to your main claim, which might require some negotiation with your audience. In the end, effective analysis requires balancing who the people are (demographics) with how they think (psychographics), which will lead to a speech that resonates with the audience.
Review
To review, see:
- What Is an Audience Analysis?
- Why Conduct an Audience Analysis?
- Three Types of Audience Analysis
- Conducting Audience Analysis
- Using Your Audience Analysis
- Audience Analysis
2c. Describe different listening styles
- What are the four common listening styles?
- How would you define the four common listening styles?
- What is an example of each of the common listening styles?
- Why is it important for a speaker to understand the four listening styles?
Listening is an important part of the communication process. There are four common listening styles: people-oriented, action-oriented, content-oriented, and time-oriented.
Listeners who are people-oriented primarily focus on the speaker's feelings and emotional state. They listen to build or maintain a relationship. An example of this type of listening style occurs when a friend listens to another friend vent about a bad day, focusing on the venting friend's emotions.
Listeners who are action-oriented focus on tasks, and they want to know what the speaker wants them to do with the information. They prefer organized, direct messages. An example of this type of listening style occurs when a manager interrupts a briefing to ask, "Okay, so what are the three steps we need to take next?"
Listeners who are content-oriented focus on the meaning and credibility of the message itself. They enjoy complex information and analyzing the speaker's logic. An example of this type of listening style occurs when a judge, listening to a court case, carefully weighs the facts and evidence provided by both sides.
Finally, time-oriented listeners focus on efficiency and time limits. They value brevity and get frustrated by long-winded stories. An example of this type of listening style occurs when a busy executive looks at their watch while a presenter is only halfway through their introduction.
As a speaker, it is important to understand your audience's listening styles, because they are almost always a mix of all four. If a speaker only caters to one style, they risk losing the interest or trust of the other audience members. By understanding these styles, a speaker can adapt their delivery to ensure the message reaches everyone in the room. This can be done, for example, by providing clear action items, sharing a relatable story, citing facts, and staying on schedule.
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2d. Apply methods to eliminate types of noise that can affect a listener's ability to attend to a message
- What are the common types of noise?
- How do you define each type of noise?
- What is an example of each type of noise?
- What are some examples of methods to eliminate each type of noise?
Communication transactions are not perfect. Noise is any barrier between the sender and the receiver of the message. There are four common types of noise: physical, psychological, physiological, and semantic.
Physical noise includes external sounds or environmental factors that distract the listener. An example of physical noise is a loud construction crew working outside the classroom window while you are trying to listen to a lecture.
Psychological noise includes internal mental or emotional distractions, such as personal worries or prejudices, that prevent a listener from focusing on the message. Being unable to focus on a speech because you are worried about a difficult exam you have in the next hour is an example of psychological noise.
Physiological noise includes distractions caused by the listener's own body or physical state. Trying to listen to a presentation while you have a splitting headache or an extremely hungry stomach is an example of physiological noise.
Semantic noise is the confusion that occurs when a listener doesn't understand the speaker's words, like jargon or slang. An example of semantic noise is when a physician uses highly technical medical terms that a patient doesn't understand, causing the patient to stop following the conversation.
We can expect noise in our conversations and public presentations. Here are some common methods to eliminate or control each type of noise based on the examples above. To eliminate physical noise, we can close the door or window or move the speech to a quieter location.
To eliminate psychological noise, you can practice active listening (the process of purposeful, intentional, and motivated listening where the listener strives to understand a speaker's message, distinct from the involuntary act of hearing) by taking notes to force your mind to stay on the topic and set aside personal biases. To eliminate physiological noise, you can address your physical needs before the speech (eat a snack, drink water, or take an aspirin for a headache).
To eliminate semantic noise, speakers should define their terms clearly and avoid unnecessary jargon; listeners should ask clarifying questions if they are confused. Successful communication transactions depend on the speaker and listener being proactive in reducing these barriers to communication.
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2e. List the characteristics associated with each stage of listening
- What are the stages of listening as a process?
- What are the characteristics associated with each stage of listening?
- What is an example of the listening process in action?
Listening is an active, physical, and mental process, not a passive one. The process of listening includes the following distinct stages.
- Receiving is the intentional focus on hearing the speaker's message while filtering out background noise. It is the physiological start of the process.
- Understanding involves decoding the speaker's message; the listener attempts to learn its meaning and grasp the speaker's intended point.
- Remembering is the ability to retain information for later use. It is often influenced by how well the listener organized the information during the understanding stage.
- Evaluating occurs when the listener judges the message. They assess the speaker's credibility, the argument's logic, and whether the information is biased or truthful.
- Responding is the feedback stage. It includes nonverbal cues (such as nodding) and verbal responses (such as asking questions) that indicate to the speaker how the message was received.
Here is an example of the listening process in action. Imagine you are attending a financial literacy workshop. During the receiving stage, you tune out the hum of the air conditioner to focus solely on the presenter's voice. During the understanding stage, when the speaker mentions compound interest, you connect it to your knowledge of savings accounts to grasp how it works. During the remembering stage, you take a mental note (or write down) the specific formula the speaker gave so you can use it when you get home. During the evaluating stage, you consider whether the speaker's advice is realistic for your current budget or if they are just trying to sell you a specific bank's credit card. During the responding stage, at the end of the presentation, you nod to show you followed the logic and ask a specific follow-up question about high-yield savings accounts.
As you can see, listening is a sequential process; a failure at one stage prevents success at the next. We often pass through the stages of listening quickly, or we process a speaker's message and are expected to make a response before starting the process again.
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2f. Recommend ways to improve critical listening habits
- What is critical listening?
- What are six techniques for improving critical listening?
- What are examples of each of the techniques for improving critical listening?
Critical listening is the process of using careful, systematic thinking and reasoning to see whether a message makes sense in light of factual evidence. It's about being an active judge of the message rather than a passive receiver.
There are six techniques for improving critical listening. The first is to recognize the difference between facts and opinions. If a speaker says, "The university increased tuition by 5% this year", that is a fact you can verify. If they say, "The tuition hike was a greedy move by the administration", that is an opinion. A critical listener separates the data from the speaker's feelings. The second technique is to uncover assumptions given by the speaker. If a speaker argues that we should ban plastic straws to save the ocean, they are assuming that plastic straws are a primary cause of ocean pollution. A critical listener identifies that unspoken assumption to see if it holds up. The third technique is to be open to new ideas. If you strongly dislike a specific politician but listen to their speech with the intent of understanding their actual proposal rather than just waiting to disagree, you are practicing openness. The fourth technique is to rely on reason and common sense. If a speaker claims a new supplement will help you lose 20 pounds in two days, a critical listener uses reason to realize this is biologically impossible and likely too good to be true. The fifth technique is to relate new ideas to old ones. When a speaker explains a complex technical concept like bandwidth, you might relate it to a familiar concept like a highway, where more lanes (bandwidth) allow more cars (data) to pass through at once. The sixth technique is to take notes. Instead of trying to write every word the speaker says, a critical listener writes down key phrases and supporting evidence. For instance, noting "Source: 2022 Census data" next to a statistic helps you evaluate the credibility later. Critical listening can be a difficult process to master, but the most rewarding type of active listening.
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Unit 2 Vocabulary
This vocabulary list includes terms you will need to know to successfully complete the final exam.
- action-oriented
- active listening
- audience analysis
- content-oriented
- critical listening
- evaluating
- listening
- people-oriented
- physical noise
- physiological noise
- psychographics
- psychological noise
- receiving
- remembering
- semantic noise
- situation analysis
- time-oriented
- understanding
- responding