Publication
Title
Hyper-diversity in sampling strategy for reader response studies in an urban context
Author
Abstract
Early strategies of researching readers turned scholars to hermeneutic shortcuts like Iser’s ‘implied’ or Fish’s ‘informed’ reader. However, these shortcuts cannot be seen as studying ‘actual’ readers. One approach to studying actual readers has been turning to empirical methods. However, even though the institutions that do these types of research are located in culturally complex cities, the process of participant selection in empirical studies often does not take the city’s make-up into account. Therefore, this article aims to present a participant sampling strategy for empirical reader response research with Antwerp as the location for a study of urban readers in a European context. Opting for a qualitative approach and thus a purposeful sampling strategy and taking the hyper-diverse nature of major cities into account, we suggest using social milieu rather than traditional descriptive markers by recruiting from different neighbourhoods. This as neighbourhoods have their own culture and play an important role in a person’s identity. Turning to local libraries for participant recruitment means a step towards studying actual readers and will lead to a deeper insight into the effects of texts on readers. Moreover, apart from obtaining a richer variety of idiosyncratic responses, this can also result in a deeper understanding of (sub)cultural responses to narratives.
Language
English
Source (journal)
The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion
Publication
2023
DOI
10.33137/IJIDI.V7I3/4.40749
Volume/pages
7 :3-4 (2023) , 16 p.
Medium
E-only publicatie
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Record
Identifier
Creation 01.12.2023
Last edited 04.12.2023
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