1. Stage 1: Brainstorming
1.1. Option 1: Teachers/Instructors
1.1.1. The rhetorics behind teaching in academia
1.1.1.1. Primary/High School Teachers
1.1.1.1.1. How do teachers engage with their students in the classroom, and what rhetorical devices do they employ to do this?
1.1.1.1.2. How do teachers engage with students with different age groups?
1.1.1.1.3. How do teachers engage with students of different socio-economical backgrounds?
1.1.1.2. University Professors/Lecturers/Tutors
1.1.1.2.1. Does the presence the use of comic relief/ humor, increase the level of attendees/increase the level of engagement with the lecture?
1.1.1.2.2. What persona is most effective for lecturers to keep students engaged?
1.1.1.2.3. How do professors use their reputation as ethos to incite respect in their lecture halls?
1.1.2. The rhetorics behind instructors in the fitness world
1.1.2.1. Sport teams' coaches
1.1.2.1.1. How do coaches establish their ethos?
1.1.2.1.2. How do coaches for men and women sports teams differ in their persona?
1.1.2.1.3. How do coaches establish respect with their respective teams? (How do they use rhetorics for this)
1.1.2.2. Fitness instructors
1.1.2.2.1. Personal trainers
1.1.2.2.2. Class instructors
1.2. Option 2: Stand-up comedy
1.2.1. How do comedians engage with their audience?
1.2.2. How do stand-up comedians establish ethos with the audience?
1.2.2.1. Does ethos help with comedic relief?
1.2.3. How can stand-up comedy be analyzed in terms of successful storytelling?
1.2.3.1. Storytelling
1.2.3.2. Framing
1.2.4. To what extent is pathos the most important rhetorical device in stand-up comedy?
1.2.4.1. Is it comedy if there is no pathos? (might be too simple)
1.3. Option 3: Slam Poetry
1.3.1. Individual
1.3.1.1. What strategies do rhetors employ when performing slam poetry?
1.3.1.1.1. How does intonation (tone of voice) influence the delivery of a poem?
1.3.1.1.2. How are emotions evoked by the rhetor?
1.3.1.2. Ethos? - is it important for slam poetry?
1.3.2. Group
1.3.2.1. How can we compare individual and group slam-poetry as rhetorical acts?
1.3.2.1.1. Compare and contrast
1.4. Option 4: Guides
1.4.1. City Tours
1.4.1.1. Hop on - Hop off
1.4.1.2. Boat canal tours
1.4.1.3. Free-walking tours
1.4.1.3.1. Languages
1.4.1.3.2. Free-walking tours have storytelling elements
1.4.2. Museums
1.4.2.1. Tour guides in museums
1.4.2.1.1. Ages
1.4.2.1.2. Languages
2. Stage 2: Prior Knowledge, Research Question Development, and Planning
2.1. Prior Knowledge
2.1.1. After the first meeting where we brainstormed ideas, our team chose to focus on free walking tour guides and their use of rhetorical devises when engaging with their audience.
2.1.2. Two out of four people in the group had previously done a free walking tour and therefore were aware of the potential techniques that guides could employ during the tour and that would be interesting to observe
2.1.2.1. For instance, sharing their educational background, motivation behind becoming a tour guide, and trying to share a piece of their culture (as guides are often locals when the tour is in English) sometimes offering you food tastes or, in the case of Amsterdam, Dutch words
2.1.2.1.1. Tipical local foods: e.g. Stroopwafels
2.1.2.1.2. Dutch words
2.2. Research Question Development
2.2.1. Having discussed our past experiences with city tours, walking tours, and free tours in particular, we came to the conclusion that each guide employs different rhetorics depending on the context, audience, and purpose of the tour. It was the latter aspect that piqued our interest.
2.2.2. Free walking tours are set up so a guide’s salary is dependent on the tips they receive at the end. Therefore, their use of rhetoric would establish a connection with the audience in the hopes of maximizing their ultimate earnings.
2.2.3. Thus, it is a matter of ETHOS. At the end of the day, the more we like the guide and their take on the tour, the higher the expected tip. This begs the question:
2.2.4. RQ: How does a free walking tour guide establish and maintain his ethos to maximize his earnings?
2.2.4.1. Relevance of rhetoric in real life
2.2.4.1.1. The research question allows to explore how the effective use of rhetorics can impact someone's wage earnings. This is an evident case of how rhetorics is a necessary tool to make a living for some, such as tour guides
2.2.4.2. PPLE Link
2.2.4.2.1. Psychology: this RQ allows for an active participant observation of social phenomena in psychology such as the development of group dynamics and interpersonal relationships amongst strangers. This research will add to existing theories on conformity (laughing at jokes), leadership, and respect (towards guide) within groups. For further research, given the plurality of nationalities present at English speaking tours, it could be interesting to observe how successful tour guides' rhetorical techniques are according to socio-cultural backgrounds of the audience (cultural dimensions).
2.2.4.2.2. Economics: the RQ explicitly mentions how rhetorics directly impacts the wages of the tour guides. From an economics perspective, the business mentality of free tours will be evaluated. Given that rhetoric use stems from, amongst other factors, monetary incentives, it would be interesting to know if the company has chosen maximization of profit as its main policy.
2.2.4.2.3. Politics and Law: guides in Amsterdam refer to the history of a country, such as its times of conflict, war, and ideological disagreements (P), as well as its interesting legal history of tolerance in regard to cannabis, heroin, and prostitution (L).
2.3. Planning
2.3.1. Having established our research question, we reached out to a couple of free walking tour agencies in Amsterdam.
2.3.2. FreeDam Tours responded and so we decided to split the group into two (Cerise and Ana; Lèo and Sophie) and carry out three "observations" / tours in total
3. Stage 3: Observations
3.1. Observation 1: Joran
3.1.1. JORAN
3.1.2. Cerise & Ana
3.1.3. Process
3.1.3.1. Before the tour: had the research question in mind and would focus on how the tour guides established a connection with the audience and how they maintained it
3.1.3.2. During the tour: noted down rhetorical strategies employed by the tour guides such as metaphors, tone of voice, warm up exercises (introducing ourselves), etc.
3.1.3.3. After the tour: we reconvened and made sure the notes made sense (as can be seen in the field notes); we divided them into categories for the different rhetorical devices we noticed
3.1.3.4. The same process was adopted for the remaining two observations
3.2. Observation 2:
3.2.1. MARCELLA
3.2.2. Lèo & Sophie
3.3. Observation 3: Mike
3.3.1. MIKE
3.3.2. Cerise & Ana
4. Stage 4: Discussion + Developing Theory
4.1. Patterns
4.1.1. Upon completing all three observations we began to notice patterns in our observation field notes and categories.
4.1.1.1. The guides always introduced themselves upon registration by shaking each person's hand and asking their name and their country of origin.
4.1.1.2. They also proceeded to talk about their providence - adding to their characters as tour guides - and why they were working as free walking tour guides
4.1.1.3. The overall structure of the tour was identical and all began with disclaimers about the dangers of bikes explaining how the free walking tour system worked – i.e. how the tipping / paying at the end worked
4.2. Theory
4.2.1. Campbell
4.2.1.1. It was clear for us that the most evident way to answer the research question at hand would be through the use of Campbell's seven general categories of descriptive analysis as the backbone structure and guide for our analysis
4.2.1.1.1. Purpose: the conclusion argued (thesis) and the response desired by the rhetor
4.2.1.1.2. Audience: the receivers of a rhetorical act, this includes an immediate audience
4.2.1.1.3. Persona: the role adopted by the persuader in making the argument
4.2.1.1.4. Tone: the rhetor’s attitude toward the subject and toward the audience
4.2.1.1.5. Evidence: the different kinds of support material for the argument or claims made in the rhetorical act
4.2.1.1.6. Structure: the way the materials are organized to gain attention, develop a case, and provide emphasis
4.2.1.1.7. Strategies: the adaptation of all of the above, including language, appeals, and argument, to shape the materials to overcome the challenges the rhetor faces (the rhetorical context).
4.2.2. Aristotelean method
4.2.2.1. Ethos, pathos, and logos were essential tools employed by guides to engage with their audience
4.2.2.1.1. Ethos: was the overall main tool each guide had to establish and maintain (as the research question asks) - it was maintained by their active use of other strategies such as pathos and logos
4.2.2.1.2. Pathos: the emotions the guides evoked on the audience, especially humor, contributed to their ethos and relationship with the audience, increasing their likeability
4.2.2.1.3. Logos: they used their academic background as reasoning to establish their ethos and would resort to printed out pictures in order to illustrate their stories (evidence)
5. Stage 5: Analysis + Answering the RQ
5.1. Structure of Analysis
5.1.1. 1. The analysis would be carried out so as to have the seven categories presented by Campbell for each tour guide. (Example: Joran)
5.1.1.1. Purpose
5.1.1.1.1. Make people like him, be happy, and like the tour
5.1.1.2. Audience
5.1.1.2.1. Tourists, curious, attentive (average: 25 years old)
5.1.1.3. Persona
5.1.1.3.1. Ethos, personal connection registering questions, names, origin, comfortable, approachable
5.1.1.4. Tone
5.1.1.4.1. Had a powerful tone and good voice projection - affects ethos, persona, way we perceive
5.1.1.5. Structure
5.1.1.5.1. Storytelling, the tour is one big story, connection, people stay
5.1.1.6. Evidence
5.1.1.6.1. "I’m dutch so I should know" knowledgeable expert, warrant (fallacies) ethos, with the help of logos, logos
5.1.1.6.2. Photos/images Joran used to illustrate the historical context
5.1.1.7. Strategies
5.1.1.7.1. Analogies
5.1.1.7.2. Figurative language such as metaphors and similes were employed by Joran to create vivid images in the audience's minds that illustrated Amsterdam's history
5.1.1.7.3. Framing: the group as a family, as a tight-knit community, creates proximity
5.1.2. 2. It would then be possible to compare and contrast the rhetorical devices employed by each guide and how they are similar or differ from one another
5.1.3. 3. This would, in turn, allow for further evaluation of which strategies are most impactful in relation to the ethos of the tour guide, and thus which are most successful in increasing the earnings/tips of tour guides
5.1.4. 4. Thus, the RQ would be answered and its relevance in terms of PPLE disciplines could be further discussed.