Re: Research

Week 6 is in the books. This week, if you couldn’t tell from the title, we talked about research. Monday’s class was a little different than usual. We went out around campus with our group members and researched noise levels. Basically, we picked five or six different spots on campus to walk to and record our observations. We took notes on things like the exact noise levels, what each location is used for, what types of communication we observe, etc. Our goal was to figure out what locations would be the quietest and what locations would be the loudest? How exactly did we measure those exact noise levels? Well…

Personally, I used the NIOSH app to record the sound levels. It was interesting because some of my group members used the same app and we found that our phones would pick up different decibel levels. One reason we thought that might be is because a few of us were using iPhones while another was using an Android. However, even all of us with iPhones were still recording different levels. Someone suggested it might be because we were all standing in different spots. We were all next to each other, but maybe those couple of feet made a difference?

So, where did we go and what did we find? Well, our first stop wasn’t too far from the classroom. In fact, it was right outside the door. We measured the sound level of the hallway, which turned out to be, on average, 61.1 dB, according to my phone. In fact, that turned out to be the quietest location that we stopped at. Since it was during class time, not many people were in the hallway, so not much was going on. I’m pretty sure if we went out in that same hallway in between class times, our result would've been very different. Another place we stopped at was the library reading room, which was actually a little bit louder, at an average of 66.2 dB. We also went to the Starbucks that’s a short walk off campus. Some Starbucks stores are relatively quiet, with only the sounds of people typing and coffee brewing. Not this Starbucks. It was packed with people chit-chatting, a Justin Bieber song blasting out of the speakers, and the sound of lattes and frappuccinos being made.

During Wednesday’s class, our group put our recorded data into a chart. Actually, two. One of our group members made his own, which was more like a graph. It made it neat to visualize and compare the data in two different ways.

If I had to do some communication research in the future, it would be neat to learn more about nonverbal communication. Maybe something along the lines of, how do the different genders use body language differently? I know there are plenty of articles out there on that topic already, but I would still be interested in making my own observations. I would also be interested in researching how people interpret text messages differently. Specifically, how do senders versus receivers view what is being said. Living in this crazy age of technology, it couldn't hurt to learn a bit more about that topic.