Informal Research - Interviews and Surveys

Amber and I were cold so we decided to go into the corner store to interview people. The first person we interviewed was a woman; she looked like an undergraduate. She was unique in her own way because she was cracking jokes like "I'm cool" with the head movement and leaning her weight on one leg. Then she stood back up and said "just kidding." I would say that is a typical cool; you crack uncool jokes and then say "just kidding" to justify yourself, or to make yourself cool by knowing that what you said was uncool. Common answers she gave were when we asked her to define cool and she said "depends on what you define as cool". We asked her to define cool and she said "trendy," "calm," "chill." She also said that "it was okay for young people to look cool." It was funny when we were interviewing her because she did not know what to say when we asked her questions; she said she "never thought about it."

Then we asked another customer at the corner store. He said that "being cool is being nonchalant and indifferent." Being cool is not about worrying about being cool; "it doesn't have to do with cool anymore." When asked why he thinks teenagers want to be cool, he said "that it is a stage teenagers go through," like puberty and drama. He said he didn't know what was cool and whether or not nerds are cool but he did mention that he is surrounded by a lot of them. He took some time into thinking who is the coolest celebrity. He gave us her name and said that "she devoted her life to better people." Then we asked him who was the coolest person in his high school and he said that the person was "new, on the lacrosse team, and all the girls wanted him."

Lastly, we interviewed one of the guys that worked at the corner store, Anthony. He was biting his nails when we asked which celebrity is the coolest. He said "definitely not celebrities" and that it was "a hard question." His final decision was Cameron Diaz, because "she did a lot of charities." Being cool is about "contributing to society." He said that "cool is a positive thing; people think what they do is cool." When people do something and society approves, they keep doing it and think that it is cool. I asked him how does the think the word cool came to be and he said that "the weather is cool. You felt good" and you were cool if people felt good about you. When we asked who was the coolest person in his high school, he said his father before we finished but then changed his answer to himself. He was "well-known, did not gas, outgoing, and didn't fight with people." I asked him if his father was cool and he said yeah; his father taught him everything and gave him life. I told him that his mother gave him life too and he changed his answer to his parents are cool.

I interviewed my friend and I figured it was more interesting if I wrote it out:
Are celebrities cool? Duh.

Ew, how so? I mean in terms of tv show; 'cause the drama keeps you watching and you realize how good looking the celebrities are. Like in the new Taiwanese show "Hi My Sweetheart," are you watching that?

No... Alan Luo man cute. And the thing is man (mad) good.

So cute = cool? Nah, they ain't cool; 'cause they are a total different person. Maybe Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood.

So they are cool? Yeah.

How so? 'Cause they man (mad) nice at singing and have nice personality, I guess, dawg.

So having a skill and being outgoing is cool?Yeah, dawg.

I interviewed one of my family members and I brought up the cool paradox. She said that people have different views on cool and that she does not know what makes someone cool. But she did say that she was cool; joking like anyone else would? I then asked her whether it was uncool to say that someone called him/herself cool and she said no. Then I told her that I was cool and she said that I was lying. I guess she then understood what I meant by whether it was uncool to call oneself cool.