About Information
About Information
Start with what you already know. I am not being trite here so it’s important that you take this step seriously. Before you commit yourself to discovering what other people have written, think about what you already know—or think you know.
One of the difficulties of communication is matching perception with reality. Assuming that you are reasonably well educated, you come into contact with information a variety of ways. You form impressions from pieces of information gathered from a variety of sources. Consider for a moment how we know what we know.
Authority
Perhaps the most reliable means is to rely on authority. We believe the information we receive because we trust the person who said it. A person may gain authority through a variety of ways. One obvious path to credibility is a person specially educated in a subject matter such as physicians, chemists, engineers, artists, or lawyers. People may also assume authority through some particular experiences. For example, employees of a company can tell you a lot about the way business in conducted, just as soldiers have authority when it comes to battlefield operations. Considering your topic, who would be considered an authority? Give specific names if you have them, but if you don’t try to think of who you would turn to if you were a reporter and needed to get expert opinion.
Personal Experience
Another way to know about a topic is to have had some personal experience that forms impressions. Notably, these experiences are very important. They often produce biases either in favor of or against the organization. For example, if you were carefully scrutinized while going through an airport security check, you would believe the conclusions you drew from that experience. Perhaps you concluded that you were profiled because of your race. Perhaps your experiences lead you to believe that airport security is too weak. Or you may have determined that you were targeted because you paid for a one way ticket with cash. Whatever your experience, you will believe it because it was your experience. No amount of evidence to the contrary will take that experience away from you. When you speak of the experience to friends, you will speak with a great deal of passion, certain of your point of view.
These personal encounters should not be taken lightly. Right or wrong, these perceptions are believed to be true. However, these experiences not be taken to be universally true. One person’s reaction to the search could be entirely different from another’s.
Custom
Psychologists often refer to this as social proof. We believe some things because “everyone” agrees with us. Many people in United States believe that we are an inherently giving nation, supplying food and materials to people in other countries who are less fortunate. Others believe that we are inherently greedy, giving only to protect our vested interests. The hard part about analyzing customary beliefs is that they are often invisible to us. Societal groups are not very self-critical. We have been reared with certain assumptions we hold to be true. One of the clearer examples is that we tend to become members of a political party because our parents are members of that party. We also tend to purchase name brand products at grocery stores because our parents did.
That does not mean that what we learn through custom is necessarily wrong. But it is only one point of view and there may be others in need of consideration. Another vantage here is that customs derive from group attitudes and behaviors. Police officers may strike fear in certain groups, comfort in others, and — after the events of 9-11-01 — may invoke feelings of civic pride. Regardless of your topic, consider what the publicly held attitudes are regarding the client. As you research, you will be able to compare these everyday impressions against what you find in the research.
