{"287651":{"#nid":"287651","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Class Notes: Surveying Student Stereotypes through Ethnography","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EOn the ground floor of the Engineering Science and Mechanics Building, six students engage in a lively discussion about campus culture.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhat do they even think of each other?\u201d one says, referring to Tech students.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis group of six comprises the roster for \u201cAn Ethnographic Study of Georgia Tech,\u201d an \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.honorsprogram.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EHonors Program\u003C\/a\u003E seminar taught by Cara Appel-Silbaugh that asks students to examine elements of Tech culture.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAfter several weeks of exploration, the group settled on this research question to pursue for the remainder of the semester: How do engineering majors understand and perceive the culture of non-engineering majors?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe wanted to see whether the stereotypes some of us have heard exist in larger populations on campus,\u201d said Justin Bunch, an economics major. Of the six students in the class, one is majoring in engineering (aerospace, to be exact), while the others represent architecture, biology, and computer science.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe group has distributed surveys and conducted in-person interviews to probe engineering majors about how they view their fellow students in both engineering and non-engineering disciplines. They\u2019ll use document analysis to complement their discussions and come to a conclusion by the end of the semester.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe group has already been recording observations related to the question, including how students frame their answer to, \u201cWhat\u2019s your major?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cSometimes people seem to feel the need to qualify it \u2014 like, \u2018I\u2019m a business major, but concentrating in information technology,\u2019\u201d said Barry Weaver, a biology major. They\u2019ve also taken note of the reactions or facial expressions students give based on the answer. On this day in class, there\u2019s a lengthy debate of whether non-engineering students can be lumped together and characterized as one group \u2014 can you truly have an opinion of \u201cnon-engineering\u201d students, or is there too much variance in that label?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe class arrived at the question through basic curiosity and interest. Each student wrote a one-page paper on an idea, and the class refined and chose from those options.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe were the most excited to see the results from this study,\u201d said Barry Weaver, a biology major.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHonors Program seminar offerings vary by semester, with some repeats, but this is the first offering of this class. Appel-Silbaugh, who serves as associate dean of students and whose doctoral dissertation was an ethnographic study, conceived the idea last year. When registering for classes, Bunch said, the ethnographic study option stood out to him because \u0022it looked like it would teach something meaningful.\u0022 Other offerings this semester include titles such as The Art and Science of Baseball; Environment Ecocritic: Walking; and Urban Studies: Seeking Social Justice and Sustainability in the City.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAn Honors Program class studies what Tech students think of each other.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"An Honors Program class studies what Tech students think of each other."}],"uid":"27469","created_gmt":"2014-04-14 15:48:45","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:16:11","author":"Kristen Bailey","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-04-14T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2014-04-14T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"286411":{"id":"286411","type":"image","title":"An Ethnographic Study of Georgia Tech","body":null,"created":"1449244237","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:50:37","changed":"1475894981","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:49:41","alt":"An Ethnographic Study of Georgia Tech","file":{"fid":"199094","name":"13c2334-p5-013a.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/13c2334-p5-013a_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/13c2334-p5-013a_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2108808,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/13c2334-p5-013a_0.jpg?itok=yjo99zvf"}},"283961":{"id":"283961","type":"image","title":"An Ethnographic Study of GT","body":null,"created":"1449244216","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:50:16","changed":"1475894978","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:49:38","alt":"An Ethnographic Study of GT","file":{"fid":"198996","name":"13153126923_88ee31252f_b.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/13153126923_88ee31252f_b_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/13153126923_88ee31252f_b_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":174054,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/13153126923_88ee31252f_b_0.jpg?itok=D1_adfmc"}},"283971":{"id":"283971","type":"image","title":"An Ethnographic Study of GT","body":null,"created":"1449244216","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:50:16","changed":"1475894973","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:49:33","alt":"An Ethnographic Study of GT","file":{"fid":"198997","name":"13153002725_03eecaf966_b.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/13153002725_03eecaf966_b_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/13153002725_03eecaf966_b_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":167690,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/13153002725_03eecaf966_b_0.jpg?itok=Fm7WJxBF"}}},"media_ids":["286411","283961","283971"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/honorsprogram.gatech.edu\/content\/fall-2014-courses","title":"Fall 2014 Honors Program Offerings"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"89341","name":"class notes"},{"id":"3093","name":"culture"},{"id":"2526","name":"curriculum"},{"id":"4201","name":"honors program"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:kristen.bailey@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EKristen Bailey\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EInstitute Communications\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}