Methodology

Investigation methodology

The data that I chose to collect is based on child language acquisition. Before collecting my data there were many factors that I had to consider, including:

·         Reliability

·         Confidentiality

·         Ethicality

·         Comparability

Reliability was a main factor that I thoroughly considered.  I had to collect enough data so that any unrepresentative aspects do not seem significant. To do so I:

·         Recorded for the same amount of time (ten minutes)

·         Recorded on the same day, every week for six weeks

·         Recorded at the same time (tea time)

As I was recording the child’s natural speech I had to consider ‘the observer’s paradox’. This states that people change their speech and behaviour as soon as they know they are being watched/recorded. To ensure that I collected fair speech, I have only transcribed between four and eight minutes, leaving me with four minutes of speech. However, the child was not completely aware that I was recording him due to permission being granted from his parent as he is aged under sixteen.

This then leads me onto the factor of ethicality. I had to gain informed consent from the parent of the child, as well as the others that were included in the recordings through interacting with the child. Informed consent allowed the parent of the child and the others involved understand why I was taking these recordings, who will be accessing it and how I will protect their confidentiality.

Confidentiality was important to me as I wanted to ensure that everybody knew they could have an open, random conversation that will be kept anonymous. To do this, I have changed all names when transcribing the speech, and any personal details have been changed such as birthdays, addresses etc.

I am also looking into comparability between the recordings because who the child is talking to varies between each one. I am going to look at how the child responds and communicates with the different members of the conversation and also determine if it’s due to the language and techniques used by the adults. This is things such as questions and child directed speech.