Course materials
for/by Peter L. Patrick. May contain copyright material used for educational
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Descriptive Report:
Notes on InterView (IV) Report-writing
For LG554, Univ of
This assignment MUST
be done in conjunction with the recording of at least one sociolinguistic
interview -- but it's strongly recommended that you plan to record several
(3-5). In fact, it's ideal if you can plan a project which will include such
interviews as one component of data collection. The assignment will consist of
handing in at least one interview recording and one Descriptive IV Report. Hand
it in to the office and Email me a copy, too.
The task
In
this assignment you will:
·
Record
one or more sociolinguistic interviews
·
Complete
and hand in various related forms (see below), including ethical consent
·
Write
a report describing your interview in detail, inclluding
the context, the content and the language
Length: As with all our
assignments in LG554, you should write a report of 1500 words or more. I will
not penalise reports of up to 3000 words, but if you can express yourself
clearly in 1500, please do. Under-length (ie,
under-1500 words) reports may suffer from lack of content and be marked
accordingly.
The background
We have 3 kinds of documents
related to IVs in here and all 3 have different functions.
1) The physical recording (digital file, MiniDisk,
cassette etc.) of an IV obviously is the primary record and source of data. It
has a tremendous amount of detailed information, but it tells us nothing about
the circumstances in which it was recorded, what happened immediately before or
after it was turned on (and in any moments during the IV when it was turned
off), and no visual information.
The tape also has real names, places, and voices, and perhaps information that
should be kept confidential.
2) Forms: The IV Report
Form is an accurate
summary of key info in the descriptive report, prompting you for descriptive
details. The IVer should fill out this form as soon
(and as completely) as possible after the IV is over, but not in front of the IVee. Write the real names lightly in pencil, so you
don't forget them! but so you can change to pseudonyms later, if needed.
(Otherwise you may have to rewrite the IV Report Form, a waste of effort.) You
can download the IV Report Forms from the coursepage.
Ethical
permissions form: We’ll cover this in class. It is mandatory, and it
will need to be signed by each person you record.
3) The Descriptive IV
Report is constructed
from your notes and from listening to the tapes. It should contain all relevant details of visual info,
the circumstances of the IV (including how it was arranged), your impressions
of the IV, a brief but detail-specific summary of topics discussed on tape with
any particularly important passages referred to, perhaps quoted, and LOCATED on
recording (recording number, IV number, location in minutes and seconds - see
below for how to write this up).
This document tells you how to write such a report
(#3)
·
Give
information at the head of the
report which will allow a reader to link it up with recordings and Report Forms
(i.e., Recording number, IV number, date of IV, IVee
and IVer identities).
·
You
may report several IVs together: if, e.g., they're with the same persons, or on
the same topic, or happened on the same day, it's probably a good idea.
·
Make
up and use pseudonyms in your report. Use them only for people's names, names of key neighborhoods, key
institutions, and perhaps streets;
don't change address numbers, etc.
(If you're not doing an extensive or group project, it may seem unnecessary; do
it anyway, and consider it practice.)
·
Be
sure to report what you said the object
of the IV was: exactly what did you tell
them you were doing? How did they react? Is this what you actually did? Why or why not?
·
Comment
on any preliminary 'chat' (pre-IV) that occurs. What was said? How was it said?
Did it differ in style from the 'interview' part that followed? Give details. Did
you record it? How; or, if not, why not?
·
Attach
IV Report form(s) and consent form(s) to your report.
The Point of
record-keeping:
Imagine that 4 years from now
you (or me, or someone else on a similar project) want to locate a narrative,
or find all the speech by one person, or by a class of people that includes
this person.
1.
The
search begins with your (group's) Final Project Report,
2.
goes
to the IV Report Forms for the listing,
3.
seeks
out details on relevant-sounding ones by reading Descriptive IV Reports, and
4.
ends
with the researcher happily listening to appropriate sections of recordings.
Your job in the interview is to
find something worth looking for in 4 years. Your job here - in writing
it up - is to make that later search easy!
How to think about
report-writing:
In writing this or any other
report for this class, do not think of it as simply a class document to be
graded by a teacher - such an approach will not be rewarded with high marks!
Think of it rather as a research document, not aimed at someone who knows you
well and has heard you discuss events in class, but for another investigator
coming to the files several years later. She is a stranger to you and with
different purposes, needs to know quickly and precisely what you found and what
was significant about it, where the facts leave off and your interpretation
begins, and how to match up the various kinds of records. (This is what will be
valued highly in assigning marks.)
Don't put in unnecessary
verbiage, e.g. telling me that "the subject was aware of the recording
process"-- of course she was! unless you were doing it secretly, and it
doesn't help to be given vague info like this. On the other hand, specific
quotes, gestures observed, etc. which indicate heightened awareness at a particular
moment and clearly affect speech or type of answer are quite valuable and
should be reported (e.g. "nervous laugh and comment on microphone at
13:45"). In general, give more detail and less 'check-listing'. By this, I
mean try to avoid superficial comments like:
These are usually put in because
you know the instructor asked you to be aware of signs of heightened awareness,
but they are entirely useless to later investigators. Eliminate vague or
negative descriptions; replace them with positive, carefully observed,
precisely written ones. Instead, you should say things like:
·
"[IVee] chewed pen between answers"
·
"spoke
faster, laughed, cheeks coloured"
·
"horse
narrative at
·
"clasped
hands under chin"
·
"3-second
pause, then introduced new topic"
....and
so forth. Details, specifics, concrete & relevant observations, please.
In your summaries, do not just
list the questions you asked, or general listings of topics (e.g., "the IV
covered changes in the neighborhood" tells a
reader nothing - what were they? "The IVer
used the Danger-of-death and Local Politics modules" - OK, you've
described the Input - now give me the Output). Give the details. I should be
able to learn the basic demographic facts about the subject, for instance,
without ever turning on the recording.
·
Include
direct quotes wherever they are helpful or interesting. Give precise locations
on recording. Note and illustrate relevant linguistic features, e.g. the
variables you've chosen to study or others you happen to notice.
NOTE PROBLEMS and mistakes! If
you did something you think is wrong or produced a bad result, say
so. You will be advancing the class's research and your own progress if
you do, and you will NOT be graded down for mistakes. Report as objectively as
possible. Failures and mistakes are expected in here - and you are expected to
acknowledge and learn from them - so please transform your embarrassment into
something more useful to us all.
·
Indicate
whether you are using a pseudonym: "The subject, who we decided to call
Bill...". Use them! Keep pseudonym lists up-to-date; turn them in in the final report. (Once a pseudonym has been indicated,
it may then go unremarked for the rest of the report.)
·
Always
hand in copies (not originals!) of your IV Report Forms, so I can mark them up
and return them.
Indicate when you are guessing
rather than appearing to state a fact. E.g., if someone has an "Irish
accent", do you know for sure they are Irish? Could it be Scots?
·
Give
real and detailed locations of events: use real house numbers (even if
pseudonymous street names), not just "2 houses down". Show them on
maps. Someone equipped with your list of place-name pseudonyms should be able
to find the exact spot.
Integrate your reports. Do not
just give lists of things I've asked you to take note of, in separate sections.
Write them up into descriptions that make sense chronologically, that have some
logical scheme of organization, as a description in a novel might.
DO NOT WAIT 2-3 days to write
down your notes, or make out your IV Report Forms - too much info will be lost,
especially visual descriptions. Write
down your notes within 24 hours of making observations.
Reports should always mention
the recording quality if it is not the default (i.e. good quality). You may
mention type of equipment and microphone used, mic
positioning, whatever is crucial to sound. Indicate points of interest; use
cases for cassettes, CDs or MiniDiscs; label tapes/discs
and boxes w/numbers. (NB: With MDs, it is possible to label them digitally
so that when you put them in a player you can read many details. This is fine;
I do it. However it is not a substitute for labelling the outside of the disc
properly. Digital info can be erased easily!) ANYthing
you hand in must have your name – the class assignment – and the date on it, or
I won’t accept it. If you email me recordings, please provide this info in your
email.
Get your IV and Recording
numbers straight before you hand in recordings.(Especially in group work: Don't
hand in 3 separate forms each claiming the IV is #1, and on Tape #1!)
·
A
proper Recording number might be, e.g., "COL08-II-3", for the
city of
·
Select
some samples of your recording, and indicate these locations in the report, so
I can easily locate key things you want me to listen to.
[*Obviously in your own later
work, all your recordings might be made by you, so you need not put your
initials in the code! but since this is a class and I need to keep you
straight, please do so.]
When referring to a specific
incident, include reference to the time location, or which track of the CD/MD,
etc.
·
A
proper location reference might be "
·
A
proper IV number might be "KS-3.2", for the second interview
with Kana Suzuki's third subject.
Be aware that your reports will
be a resource for students that follow you here - your efforts will receive the
critique of later classes. (This is what actually happens in the research
community, too, so you'll be getting used to the feeling.) In later years,
they'll be expected to avoid some of the mistakes you make, because they should
read your reports first!
·
Old
reports are available in my office, and some should be available online as
samples. You may check them to see what others have done -- it's a good idea
and could prove helpful. As always, don’t just copy what they’ve done – you
could improve on it.
Principles for
Initial Contacts in Interviews
Details of
Assessment for LG554
LG554 Sociolinguistic Methods page
Last updated 10 October 2011