I will say that I definitely enjoyed most of the Agar article. There were three points that I want to touch on in this post.
The first is the thought about eye contact. I found it interesting that eye contact can mean different things in different settings. It was odd at first, but after thinking more, it made sense. Pretty much everything we do in life can be construed differently in other cultures. One simple example deals with women in the United States compared to those in some middle eastern nations. Here, women can dress how they wish. There, women are restricted to wearing certain items and must cover their faces. In the U.S., we think nothing of women wearing business attire with her hair done and makeup on her face. There, some men might be a little upset (to put it extremely mildly). In dealing with eye contact, this is a very clear cut issue for me here. If someone is staring at me, as was the case for Agar, I would have a problem with it here. I would feel uncomfortable and suspect that the person is extremely curious about me. In other situations, eye contact is not only welcomed, but expected. I would expect a presenter or speaker to give proper eye contact. Likewise, I would expect both parties of an interview or conversation to give eye contact. Not giving eye contact in these situations would shoe me a sign of disrespect or indifference.
The next idea I wanted to talk about was how forming questions can reveal a person's intelligence. When someone asks me a question, it is pretty apparent how much they know about the topic they are asking about. If its a basic question, they may not know much. If the question has detail that reveals some information, then the person might have some knowledge. Also, the timing and tone of the question can tell me about the person. Let's look at the Jim Calhoun example I've alluded to before. The reporter asked Calhoun about his salary after a game. This was not the right place to approach this situation. The reporter was not concerned about the answer as much as he was trying to get under the skin of Calhoun. This showed little tact. If he really wanted to know about the salary, a more private venue would have been better. The tone of the question is also important. The person can show him/herself to be sarcastic, sincere, confused, intelligent, etc. all by the tone of their voice.
The last thing I wanted to touch on was that multiple perspectives on a situation are better than just one. The biases and differing view points will be able to more completely assess the situation. My opinions will be formed based on my experiences. Another person might have different opinions because of their experiences. When we combine our thoughts, we can discuss both viewpoints and see which one makes more sense for the situation as opposed to sticking with what we believe individually.
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You made some very interesting observations based on reading the article by Agar. I would definitely agree that it is important to understand the cultural differences related to things like eye contact. That may be true not only in different countries but even in different religious groups within this country. The example of how women dress was borne out by the billboard of Anna Kournikova in a Berlei bra ad that read: "Only the ball should bounce." This ad appeared on a billboard in England, but met with disapproval from the Muslim community.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with your observations about the importance of timing, tone and other aspects that should be considered in asking questions. The Jim Calhoun case is a great example. One reason for doing your homework on a subject is so that when you interview someone, you are able to bring your understandings to the situation, and you can ask about new information. I think that can really impress an interviewee. That is why it is so important to give thought to how you frame your interview questions.
The final point that you made goes along with the previous one, because ultimately, the people you interview ought to be able to provide you with information that they have as a result of some expertise. That is why whom you select to interview is also important.