Data collection in sociolinguistics: Methods and applications provides a comprehensive overview of methodologies for the process of collecting and analyzing data in sociolinguistics. Its eighteen chapters and thirty-three vignettes contributed by adept sociolinguistic scholars and fieldworkers are organized into four parts: ‘Research design’, ‘Generating new data’, ‘Working with and preserving existing data’, and ‘Sharing data and findings’.
Two key issues are explained in Part I through the first three chapters and subsequent vignettes, two of which focus on the cross-disciplinary nature of sociolinguistic research and methods of how to get the right data, with consideration of relevant ethics. Particular emphasis is given to dynamic power relationships between researchers and participants in chapter 3 and its following vignettes.
The methods and processes of collecting data form the topic of Part II, in which methodological issues such as ethnographic data collection, experiments, surveys, questionnaires, interviews, and fieldwork are addressed from diverse social settings including the deaf community and diasporic and immigrant communities. The discussion shows how to assess the strengths and weaknesses of each methodological approach before deciding on the research framework to be used.
The chapters and vignettes in Part III work together to explore the highly complicated and practical issue of data treatment. Theoretical questions related to categorization of data, methods of organizing data, and the transcription protocol of data are discussed. Moreover, the authors of chapters 13 and 14 argue that compared with traditional data, the challenges associated with newly arising data—such as media data, performed data, and online data—deserve more attention.
Part IV shifts to issues of data preservation, access, and linguistic gratuity. It is demonstrated that educational outreach and community activism can be used as effective ways of improving the quality of data and appreciating the value of research findings. Most authors in this section encourage sociolinguists to publicize their research results and to strengthen the ties between sociolinguistic findings and their application in public and educational settings.
Overall, this is a well-organized book with introductory chapters for each part, a concise summary of the main points of the book, and a wealth of first-hand examples of fieldwork. These make the book a valuable reference for those already engaged in sociolinguistic data collection, and an accessible introduction for novice students interested in the field.
