Audience Research

One purpose of research is to replace our assumptions with reliable facts. Sometimes, the research confirms our assumptions: other times, research proves us wrong. Regardless, properly done research leaves people with better information than when they started.

So once you have your information, what’s the best way to present it? That depends on your audience, and sometimes, researching your audience is just as important as researching your topic.

Unfortunately, we rarely take the time to understand just who it is we're writing to; we're much more concerned with our topics and arguments – what we're writing about – to stop and take a good look at whom we're writing to. This leads to making important decisions about how we write – our use of Pathos – based on unfounded assumptions. Therefore, just as we research our topics, we should research our audiences.

Researching an audience requires different methods and sources, frequently ones we’re unfamiliar with: article databases, reference books, and scholarly publications are about things not people or groups. The important thing is our research tells us worthwhile information about our audience. To do so, it is helpful to look for the following types of sources:

• Biographies and profiles: This is the first place to go. Profiles of your audience will give basic information about them, and more importantly some of their duties and responsibilities as well. It can be easy to dismiss these because they can be simple, but they are often invaluable in knowing where to go for more research.
• Publications by the audience: Publications by your audience can give an in-depth look at their stance on specific issues. It gives an opportunity to see how they view a situation: a glimpse at how they think and operate. There can be some risk here, as people normally want to present themselves, their ideas and conclusions in the best light.
• Publications about the audience: Important people and groups are often talked about by others, for good and bad. By investigating these conversations, you can get a better perspective of your audience. However, just as a person may try to put themselves in the best light, others may do the same, or even try to tear them down, so these sources should be carefully evaluated.
• Affiliated organizations: This is an interesting one. Most research involves going more specific, but this involves going broader and looking at what duties or responsibilities your audience has based on what organizations they belong to. It's worthwhile to consider this information because your audience may have to operate according to the regulations of these groups, or just being part of a group can influence their decisions.
• Demographic information: Researching information about the demographics your audience belongs to. For example, if they’re a teacher, what does your research tell you about teachers in general? While this kind of information can be useful, it is the broadest and can be the least helpful. This is not to say demographic information isn't reliable, but it's possible your audience doesn't fit the mold and can lead to oversimplifying a complex individual or group based on information describing entire sections of people. If you’re using demographic information, be sure to include other types of sources, ensuring you recognize your audience as an individual, rather than running the risk of stereotyping.

This is ultimately an issue of Pathos. In order to be aware of how your audience thinks and acts, you need to look at how they have acted and presented their thoughts. With this research in hand, you can make reasonably sound judgments about how best to write. Your audience ceases to be a name or an address, and becomes an active, living person or group, capable of making decisions and influencing others. Once you realize this, you're not just producing words, but producing them with the purpose of influencing someone else. In short, if you want your words to be powerful, you have to understand where they're going.