Date: 03-Oct-2006 From: K. van den Heuvel <lotlet.uu.nl> Subject: From Text to Talk: Hof
Title: From Text to Talk
Subtitle: Answers and their uptake in standardised survey interviews
Series Title: LOT Dissertation Series
Published: 2006
Publisher: Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics / Landelijke
http://www.lotpublications.nl/
Author: Sanne van 't Hof, Utrecht University
Electronic: ISBN: 9789078328087 Pages: 304 Price: U.S. $ free
Paperback: ISBN: 9789078328087 Pages: 304 Price: Europe EURO 26.48
Abstract:
The standardised survey interview is a highly structured form of interaction. Interviewers ask questions from a script, and respondents select one of the pre-formulated answers. However, interviewers and respondents do more than just their pre-allocated tasks.
This study approaches survey interviews from an original perspective, entering the stage after the scripted question has been released into the interactional space. Interviewers and respondents switch roles, the interviewers becoming recipients of the respondents' talk. That talk often makes clear the respondents' stance towards the question or to the answer category that they select.
Questionnaires cannot provide for all the contingencies that arise in the interaction following the scripted question. These contingencies are the topic of this thesis. Interviewers employ response tokens to perform the task of answer recipient. Respondents perform meaningful actions when they do not simply select one of the answer categories. Finally, interviewers need to deal with these responses, always balancing the rules of standardisation with the goal of obtaining recordable answers.
Linguistic Field(s):
Discourse Analysis
Sociolinguistics
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