Download (23MB) - University of Salford Institutional Repository

eferring to as sociable includes informal meals', barbecues, chats around
coffee tables, and general 'get-togethers' between friends, family, and
acquaintances. These gatherings commonly took place in the homes or
gardens of one or other of the participants (including on two occasions my own
home). In terms of their regional location, gatherings in England all took place
within the Greater Manchester area, whilst German recordings were taken in
the Braunschweig area (approx. 40 miles east of Hanover).
I in no way attempted to manipulate the various configurations of persons
present at gatherings for research purposes. Participants were not normally
selected by myself, but rather invited by some other host / hostess. All
participants can be regarded as having familial or close friendship relations to at
least one other person in each setting (full details of participants' gender, age,
occupation, and relational detailO are provided in the tables in Appendix A).
Participants are in no way whatsoever posited as being representative of any
socio-economic category to which they might belong (e. g. age, social class,
gender, status, occupational status, educational etc). Although these variables
are provided (see Appendix A), this is purely for illustrative purposes to provide
the reader with some background information.
Because of this study's focus on conversational interaction, I had a
number of concerns influencing the technical aspects of data collection which
therefore require some brief treatment here 4. First and foremost, it was
essential that the conversational data that I recorded was as clear and audible
as possible. This was essential if I was to both understand what was being
said, and be able to accurately transcribe this for presentation in the thesis.
Alongside this ran a potentially conflicting concern that any recording equipment
I used would interfere as little as possible with the ongoing interaction - i. e.,
could be used inconspicuously in a range of sociable settings (e. g. on or nearby
a dining table). On a purely practical level, the recording equipment needed to
be portable and - due to the nature of the transcribing machines commonly
available - use standard sized audio tapes. Having tried several of the standard
size machines commonly in use, I found them not to provide reliable and clear
recordings. Often the recordings were faint with a substantial amount of noise
from the internal mike or motor. Having spent several weeks searching, I finally
103