Research Analysis-Compliments
Andreas Jucker’s utilizes a rational approach and strategies to explore successfully idea of speech compliments. The author applies pragmatic research strategy, thus analyzing the subject of study in a systematic and acceptable manner. The selection of the armchair research method is a calculative strategy because studying the language of a community is hard. This strategy provided the researcher an opportunity of exploring the subject from diverse perspectives (Jucker 1). Initially, intuition enabled one to imagine the language people use in different contexts while evaluating whether it is natural and appropriate. Experimentation required people to visit the laboratory and speak, as they would do in an ordinary setup. In this respect, the researcher had an opportunity of observing and listening thus tapping the first hand information.
Furthermore, the researcher formulated strategic research questions which enabling him explore various aspects of the subject. The study is highly inclusive because the researcher designed research questions that covered diverse concepts. Selection of the participants is also well informed because the researcher created a study sample by recruiting people from different backgrounds. This included people of different ethnic group, class, race and gender (Jucker 4). Particularly, the researcher incorporated in his study people who came from different parts of Europe and America including the United Kingdom and Gauteng.
The study followed the three basic procedures for the armchair research model. Initially, the researcher thought of what the general compliments of the people in a particular area could be. This presented the process of intuition. The researcher then invited people to the lab for observation of the traits while being keen to not elements of compliments. Lastly, the researcher made deductions depending from what was observed.
It is probable that application of other methods would have resulted to different findings. Some scholars argue that the diary method provides the most effective strategy for evaluating speech and compliments in a particular society (Jucker 5). Application of a strategy that is characterized with less bias would have realized better results. For example, the method adopted by this research might have realized poor findings because the reaction of the people in the laboratory had the potential of influencing the perception of the researcher towards their compliments. This implies that the study’s findings might be faulty as conclusions made by the researcher especially during the intuition stage were biased.
The findings of the research shed light to future research on language and compliments. Initially, it becomes apparent that none of the research methods on compliments is capable of providing a comprehensive evaluation. This implies that future studies should utilize multidimensional or combined strategies for evaluations for more comprehensive findings. In future, researchers should attempt to combine a number of methods that complement each other’s weaknesses to obtain the best results. Furthermore, researchers need to have knowledge of the bias characterizing each strategy to reduce it for better results. Familiarizing self with the subject and area of study would also result to better findings. A researcher who is familiar with the area of study understands the challenges and potentials that characterize various strategies. In this context, one is able to capitalize on the available opportunities while working on weak point that results to better evaluations. The evaluation setup and research questions should also be simple and direct. Complications may confuse people hence the researcher may get the wrong information. Conclusively, compliments present an interesting and broad area of study for linguistic researchers. However, when researching on the compliments, a researcher should pay attention to model of evaluation to realize the best results.
Work Cited
Jucker, Andreas H. “Speech act research between armchair, field and laboratory: The case of compliments.” University of Zurich. Web. 4 Oct. 2013. http://www.festschrift-gerd-fritz.de/files/jucker/index.html
