This summer I contributed to Professor Elana Shever’s research investigating people’s engagements with and interpretations of dinosaurs. Professor Shever’s research project more broadly is examining dinosaurs in an attempt to understand how public scientific knowledge is created within the contemporary United States. Angie Smith’17 and I helped Professor Shever for 8 weeks this summer specifically concentrating on data collection and analysis from sites in Colorado. I was very fortunate to spend 2 out of my 8 weeks doing ethnographic fieldwork in Colorado at various sites featuring dinosaurs. I conducted oral surveys and practiced participant observation during various tours, exhibits, and activities offered at these places. I spent the other 6 weeks at Colgate transcribing the recordings I had taken in Colorado, transcribing and summarizing interviews conducted by Professor Shever, and finally coding the collected information in a qualitative data analysis program called MAXQDA.
Pictured: Angelica Smith ’17, Hailey Biscow ’17, and Elana Shever
My engagements with various individuals in the field have shown me how the topic of dinosaurs provides a unique window to understand experiences of people living in today’s society. Although I asked all of the individuals I surveyed the same question about dinosaurs, our conversations varied greatly depending upon their association with dinosaurs. Some people I talked to identified themselves as dinosaur experts while others told me they knew nothing about them. After interacting with over 500 people, I realized that each individual I spoke to had been exposed to dinosaurs in some form in their life. The popularity of dinosaurs in our society allows for everyone to engage with and have opinions on them. After asking the first survey question, “When you think of dinosaurs, what are the first words that pop into your head?” I engaged in several conversations with people regarding topics ranging from politics to religion to climate change to violence to gender. These individuals would not have shared their genuine views with me if I had asked them explicitly about these topics. Rather, the topic of dinosaurs provided a platform for individuals to share their genuine views on the world with me.
I am excited to see what information is revealed as Professor Shever’s research continues, and I hope to continue to contribute to the project.
Submitted by Hailey Biscow ’17