Professional Documents
Culture Documents
ANALYZING
THE
AUDIENCE
AUDIENCE-
AUDIENCE-CENTEREDNESS
1
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF AUDIENCES
2
SITUATIONAL AUDIENCE ANALYSIS
• Situational audience analysis usually builds on
demographic analysis
• It identifies traits of the audience unique to
the speaking situation at hand
• The include:
1. The size of the audience
2. The physical setting
3. The disposition of the audience toward the subject
4. The speaker
5. The occasion
1. SIZE
• No matter what size group you are addressing, bear
in mind; the larger the audience, the more formal
your presentation must be
• It must also affect your language, choice of appeals,
and use of visual aids
2. PHYSICAL SETTING
• Which would you rather addressed?
3
4. DISPOSITION TOWARD THE SPEAKER
• Keep in mind that listeners will always have some
set of attitudes toward you as the speaker
5. DISPOSITION TOWARD THE OCCASION
• No matter what the occasion, listeners have fairly
definite ideas about the speeches they consider
appropriate
• The occasion will dictate how long a speech should
be
1. Fixed-alternative questions
– Questions that offer a fixed choice between two or more
alternatives
2. Scale questions
– Questions that require responses at fixed intervals along a
scale of answers
3. Open-ended questions
– Questions that allow respondents to answer however they
want
4
1. Have you ever engaged in volunteer work for a community, religious,
or charitable organization?
Two fixed-alternative
Yes ______________________________________________________
questions establish No ______________________________________________________
the listeners’ level of
knowledge about and 2. Have you or anyone close to you ever benefited from the volunteer
degree of involvement work of a community, religious, or charitable organization?
with the topic
Yes ______________________________________________________
No ______________________________________________________
Not sure __________________________________________________
3. If you have engaged in volunteer work, how would you rate the
experience?
This scale question is Very rewarding
designed to show the Somewhat rewarding
attitudes of listeners
who have participated Neutral
in volunteer work Somewhat unrewarding
Very unrewarding
Another scale question 4. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? To the extent
gauges the listeners’ possible, people have an obligation to help those in less fortunate
sense of social circumstances.
obligation Strongly agree
Mildly agree
Undecided
Two open-ended Mildly disagree
questions help gauge
the listeners’ disposition
Strongly disagree
toward volunteer work.
The last question probes 5. If you have worked as a volunteer, do you plan to do so again? Why or
the specific issues the why not?
speaker needs to address
for listeners who have
not engaged in
6. If you have not worked as a volunteer, what is your major reason for not
volunteer work doing so? Please explain.