An inquiry into empirical pragmatics data-gathering methods: Written DCTs, oral DCTs, field notes, and natural conversations

Abstract

In this paper, the author tries to investigate and evaluate the data-gathering methods of written DCTs, oral DCTs, field notes, and recorded conversations. A large quantity of data are collected involving the use of the two speech acts of compliments and compliment responses in the southwestern Mandarin spoken in Kunming, China. These include 1044 compliments and 1044 compliment responses elicited with an oral DCT questionnaire from 87 informants, 1056 compliments and 1056 compliment responses elicited with a written DCT questionnaire from 88 informants, 51 oral interviews transcribed from audio tapes, and 256 occurrences of the compliment event the author noted down during her field trip. It is shown that while the oral DCT shares some of the drawbacks of the written DCT, it nevertheless generates a significantly larger number of natural speech features than the written DCT does. Observational notebook data, on the other hand, enjoy the unarguable advantage of being realistic, although the actual wording may not be one hundred percent accurate. It is suggested that the choice of a data gathering method for a particular study should be made based on the research questions and objectives of the researcher.