'Talk about nano': Ways of speaking about science, society, and ethics among scientists and engineers

This four-year study was concerned with discovering a speech code used by scientists and engineers working in nanoscale science and engineering. It was supported and guided by the theoretical framework of Philipsen's speech codes theory. Materials analyzed for this study included (1) fieldnotes and (2) 20 in-depth interviews conducted with scientists and engineers working in nanotechnology. Briggs' approach for conducting research using interview methodology to collect ethnographic data was used. Materials were analyzed to identify a distinctive speech code and address five research questions. Elements of a code of speaking about science constructed on the basis of the author's analysis and interpretation of the interview materials collected, and that were supported further by observations and fieldwork research conducted, are presented. The code elements discovered represent a dominant speech code that was used by the participants in this community, including graduate students, scientists, and engineers. This code of speaking about science contains beliefs among its users about identity (e.g., what type of person is a scientist?), society (e.g., what is a scientist's proper relationship to society?), and the role of strategic conduct in science. How the dominant speech code was positioned in relation to additional, competing, and oppositional codes is also shown. Implications for extant literature are discussed, implications for speech codes theory are suggested, published criticisms of speech codes theory are addressed, and future research directions are suggested.