University of Queensland School of Journalism and Communications Research Higher Degree student Edward Reynolds has won the 2011 Graduate Student Paper Award from the American Sociological Association Section on Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis.
The award recognizes an outstanding paper written by a graduate student focused on ethnomethodological and/or conversation analytic topics and literature.
Mr Reynolds was awarded the prize in a ceremony at the ASA Annual Meeting held last August at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.
The 2011 meeting asked contributors to and academics to focus on topics such as economic class inequality, social movements and their roles in conflict, and ethnic and racial conflicts covering religion, gender and violence.
Mr Reynolds topic of ethnomethodology is the study of general methods society uses for assembling social order.
Mr Reynolds winning paper, Epistemics in Conflict: Enticing a Challengeable in Protest Arguments, used conversation analysis of posted YouTube videos featuring arguments during protests to highlight how people deliver enticing questions as a tactic to receive a challengeable answer from an opponent.
"The results illustrate how people manipulate what they show they know to try and trap their opponent in arguments," Mr Edwards said.
Mr Reynolds research addressed the issue that a question asker does not already know the answer to the question, which counters prior work assuming that people do not frame questions to have deliberate answers.
"These results show a form of question in which the asker clearly does know the answer to the question-and asks it nevertheless," he said.
Following his presentation, attendees engaged in discussion focussed on the 'trap' aspect of the enticing questions, particularly on what 'trapping' someone in an argument might achieve.
For more information, visit: http://www.uq.edu.au/sjc/docs/Edward-epistemics.pdf
Media: Siena Perry 0404 520 556 or siena.perry@uq.edu.au
