Participants will complete two tasks (i) a short demographic survey that will collect basic background on the participant (name, age, gender identity, education, etc.); and (ii) participate in a 30 to 45 min short interview in Spanish or English about what it means to be Latinx in Central Texas. The questions will include topics related to personal and professional anecdotes as well as questions around race and Identity in this region and the border.

 

• Student researchers will record interviews in their device and turn in their audio files to the instructor via box.
• Box is a password encrypted preliminary cloud storage where students will be added to the folder and the PI will be the only administrator. Students will submit to the folder that has their name.
• Students are required to delete the interview from all their devices as soon as they turn it in to the instructor.
• The box folder is only available to student researchers, and stored information will be downloaded and saved in a password encrypted hard drive stored in the office drawer that can only be access with a key.
• All information downloaded from box will be deleted from the cloud file and from the PI’s computer to be saved in the hard drive.

 

The methodology employed in this study is from traditional social science research that involves a small survey and interview. This method is widely used in several disciplines (i.e., education, linguistics, sociology, psychology, etc.). The electronic survey will allow for faster data processing and documentation. In addition, the interview provides a sample insight into the subject’s attitudes and opinions in a conversational environment.

 

Questionnaire and consent form will out orally and documented on paper. A copy of the consent form will be given to participants at the end of the interview with their participant ID and date of interview.

Interviews will be recorded using a lapel microphone and a smart device with a recording application: “goole voice memo” or “voice memo”.

 

Data will be analyzed using quantitative and computational methods. Quantitatively, data will be analyzed using social statistical methods (e.g., t-tests, regression models). Computationally, Data will be analyzed using sentiment analysis, topic modeling, and TF-IDF.