Data Analysis

Task 2:

•  On average, men had more turns per meeting than women.
• Men interrupted more times than women per meeting.
• On average, men interrupted more than they were interrupted.
• On average men spoke for longer.
• Men interrupted each other more than women interrupted men.
• More men were present at the meeting.

Task 3:

• O'Barr and Atkins - Found men and women interrupt more or less the same, but the data shows that men interrupt more than women.
• Geoffrey Beattie - One disproportionately loud man can throw the result, interrupts don't have to come from dominance.
• Zimmerman and West - The data supports this theorist as it shows men interrupt more than women which is what they also concluded. 
• Pamela Fishman - Concluded that because women are asking more questions, men have to spend longer speaking which is proven through the higher average no. of seconds men have per turn.
• Robin Lakoff - Women use less assertive language and spend longer getting to the point so men interrupt them more, proven so in the data.
• Dale Spender - Language embodies male power, this allows men to be more dominant in conversation than women, and the data proves this as men speak for longer than women.

Task 4:

Most relevant 3 theorists:

1. Zimmerman and West: Their theory supports the data that men interrupt more than women.
2. Robin Lakoff: Theory supports data as men interrupt women more due to to women using less assertive language and spend longer getting to the point.
3. Dale Spender: States that language is structured to give men an advantage.

Challenge Task:

Example:

"When looking at the data in Table 1, it is clear to see that there are some differences between the men and women at the meeting in terms of how many and how long their turns are. This would certainly fit with Lakoffs ideas about difference between the sexes. However, there are also interesting figures that suggest that it’s not as simple as saying that all men get more and longer turns than women. For example, Woman D gets 20.5 average turns per meeting which is more than two of the men. Also, while Woman D is clearly interrupted most in the data, Men F,G and H are interrupted frequently too, suggesting that it might not just be gender that is a factor here. The Dominance theory focuses more on men’s speech rather than women’s and how they are different. The dominance model found that men interrupted and dominated conversations more than women and this is a sign of dominance over women. However looking at the results in the table, the figures may prove otherwise. Given that the men did the most interrupting helps to support the dominance theory, but when we see that the men were also most interrupted on average then it seems as though the men are just interrupting each other rather than interrupting the women and showing dominance over them."

Analysis paragraph:

In the table, the data it provides seem to support the dominance theory that men maintain more dominance than women in conversation due to the differences the data portrays, for example in the average turns in speaking, how long for, and the interruptions. Men seem to hold a higher score in all these aspects because of their attempt to overrule woman because of the dominance men are known to have, whereas women score weaker as they are known to use less assertive language in conversation and spend a longer amount of time getting to the point, suggested by Robin Lakoff. This theorist supports the data as it is shown that there are difference in both gender's speech, as men interrupt women more. For example, this is proven 

as although woman can be seen to be more interruptive, as Woman D has a 20.5 average turns per meeting which is more than 2 of the men, Man E and I, the data shows that men are still frequently more interruptive than women as they have longer to speak; Zimmerman and West's theory of this therefore supports the data provided. This also helps to support the dominance theory, especially as men spoke for longer periods of time, although men were seen to interrupt each other more than they interrupted women. 

A