Learning Objectives
Evaluate lived experience as evidence
Personal experience can also be used as evidence in particular genres and fields of study. Consider the following passage from Robin Marantz Henig’s “To End this Pandemic, We Must Trust Science.” Marantz Henig is a popular science writer, and this article was originally published in National Geographic magazine.
And then, about two and a half weeks after my city, New York, shut down restaurants, Broadway plays, and the largest public school system in the country, scientists switched to a different message—that everyone should wear a mask. This was a startling about-face. The initial advice, confidently delivered, had been not to wear a mask, unless you were a frontline health-care worker. The revision was largely based on a new hypothesis, that the coronavirus spread mostly through the air…
The shift in advice about masks spooked me, I must admit. Not because of the new advice itself—I was more than happy to wear a mask if the experts said I should—but because of the ominous meta message I sensed beneath it: Scientists were figuring this thing out on the fly. The most earnest pronouncements from the world’s smartest experts suddenly sounded like little more than well-meant educated guesses.
Marantz Henig uses her experience living through the early days of Covid-19 in New York City to develop her point about the novelty of the virus and the tentative nature of public health guidelines intended to manage it.
Who is an Expert?
Experts aren’t only researchers with Ph.D.s doing academic work. The question when trying to decide who can be a source is really always, who can speak with authority about any part of the subject? And the answer to that question is always contextual, a kind of “it depends.”
People can speak with authority for different reasons. They can have subject expertise (say, having done scholarship in the field), societal position (maybe a public office or other relevant work title), or special experience (say, living or working in a particular situation of interest or having participated in an historical event).
If your subject is hurricane damage, a person who survived a hurricane might be a good expert to talk to.
For instance, people who have had firsthand experience living or working with a situation (say, someone who has been through a hurricane if your topic is on that subject) can have a unique perspective unavailable elsewhere. And it’s that up-close, firsthand view of the situation that gives them the authority that you and your audience respond to.
Of course, such sources have to be evaluated just like any other. Could they be biased? Like any source, yes. We just have to keep that possible bias in mind as we use the information from such a source. That’s part of exercising the critical thinking that research assignments are famous for producing.
Potentially biased or not, sometimes a source’s firsthand experience can’t be beat. And recognizing what they offer can help us open up to diverse ideas and worldviews that we would otherwise miss. Don’t be surprised if this kind of source takes you off in completely new directions with your assignment, ones that turn out to be much more interesting than those you were following before. For many researchers, finding sources that really open up a topic like that is one of the most rewarding—and fun—things about doing research.
Some Examples of People as Sources
| Research Question | Potential Person as Source | Potential Person as Source |
| How are tools originally developed for medicine, geology, and manufacturing used to explore paintings and sculptures? | An art conservator who uses those tools that you read about in the newspaper or other source | The person who invented one of the tools on the floor of the factory where he works |
| Why do most people who qualify for food at foodbanks not ask for food? | A local food bank director | A person (perhaps a fellow student) who qualifies but does not ask for food at a food bank |
| How and why do city and county governments brand themselves? | An official in such a city or county who has been involved in branding decisions | The director of a company that designs branding for cities and counties |
You can interview a person as a source on the phone, in email, with Skype, or face-to-face. You’ll need to:
- Pay attention when reading other sources so you can identify whom to contact and know what they could have to offer.
- Prepare by learning enough about your topic so you can ask appropriate questions, know what your expert has done in relation to that topic so you don’t seem ignorant of their contribution, and know how to contact them. You might also want to do a practice interview with a friend.
- Contact your source to see if they are willing to talk with you and when that would be convenient. Then follow through.
Use good interview techniques, such as trying to put them at ease, using active listening techniques to encourage them to talk, asking follow up questions, and thanking them at the end of the interview.
