a Semi-Structured Interviews

To explore the scientific point of view, which is as a matter of fact the ‘native’s point of view’, I employed what Russell Bernard described in his “Research methods in anthropology” (2002) as a narrow focused probability sample of key informants, mostly astrophysicists and astronomers. The final data set contains nine interviews that can be subdivided into two groups of respondents:

 scientists active in space exploration and related disciplines (seven respondents)

 specialised public e.g. science writers (two respondents)

The first group consisted of “focused ethnographic informants” (Bernard 2002), scientists who reside outside the SETI activities but who do have a good knowledge of the search for other life in the cosmos, and who in four cases had participated in a research project dedicated to the search for other life at some point in their career. Those respondents provide the cultural information and insights into how the SETI project is perceived by other scientists. The interview questions aimed to explore the SETI search as a specific culture of science in the context of the big science. The semi-structured approach to the interviewing practice was chosen as the best method when talking to elite members of the community because their time resources were limited. The structured design of the research practice enabled me to include the

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email communications in the research process. In four cases, the email communication proved to be a very useful alternative to the face-to-face interviews. The principal purpose of the interviewing was to capture current trends in search strategies, evaluate past projects, define what the idea of extraterrestrial life is within science as well as for the respondents, and in particular to:

 document the contemporary concept of life in the universe;

 reveal the current concept of life and its origin (continuity, discontinuity);

 define the position of this specific field within science;

 identify the channels of representing the research with a special focus on its visual part (current cosmologies and its visualisation) and its presentation to the public; and

 detect the linguistic expressions and characteristic use of language (Kvale and Brinkmann 2009).

The set of interview questions was based on the preliminary theoretical (desk) research. As the research unfolded I updated the questions on the basis of information gathered in the informal meetings conducted during the settling-in period of the fieldwork (Bernard 2002, Denzin and Lincoln 2000).

In the interview guide, the research annotation was divided into five key themes identified during the initial research phase: the history of the search for life, and messaging and listening; the current concept of life in the universe; meteors, comets, the cosmic origin of life, habitable zones; civilisation, SETI, and UFOs; and finally personal beliefs versus scientific data. While the purpose of drafting the key areas was to give the participants the sense of general topics that may be discussed during the interview, the interview guide provided a specific set of semi-structured interview questions:

1. Do you think there is other life in the universe and what might it be like? 2. Is the question of whether there is other life in the universe of importance

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3. What do you think about the SETI project and about message-sending activities (e.g. Pioneer Plaque and Voyager Record)?

4. What do you think about the messages that have been sent to the universe? 5. In your opinion, what happens if we detect ET life or discover life on another

planet?

6. If you were given the opportunity to send a message, what would it be?

The acknowledgement of astrobiology as the third search mode was the first theme that emerged during the fieldwork and eventually led tome updating the original research proposal in 2009 (full text of updated fieldwork documents distributed to participants is available in Appendix 2 and 3).

As the fieldwork unfolded, the scenarios or predictions of the societal response to the detection of ET life were becoming clear. Especially interesting was the recognition of the role of anthropology in predicting the first contact with extraterrestrial life; the ethnographic accounts of encounters of cultures, such as the one described by Tzvetan Todorov in his book “The conquest of America” (1982); and, last but not least, the notions and thoughts about the alien ‘Other’, and how scientists understand this topic and SETI activities. In context with the SETI, I would like to acknowledge the contribution of my respondents who described the importance of popular culture and mass media in affecting and enhancing the public understanding of science. Two of my informants during the interviews mentioned the US motion picture “Contact” (USA 1997) as de facto a channel of distributing the concept of SETI towards public, lately also worldwide (discussed in detail in Chapter 4, page 133).

Another trend emerging from interviewing were the cross-generational differences in attitude towards SETI and science fiction. The available data suggest that the upcoming generation of scientists who encountered the ‘Other’ in their childhood stories is likely more perceptive towards the conceptualisations of ‘Otherness’ . This may point us to more than just personal opinions of respondents. There seems to be a societal change driving the changes within science itself. A further study is required which would take into consideration the generational differences and also political views of the respondents.

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