Quantitative Analysis Assignment (20%)
Part 1: Survey Data Collection and Workshop (5%) Due in class Wednesday, April 13
Part 2: Paper (15%) Due by the beginning of class Monday, April 25
In this project, you will conduct a quantitative analysis of a sociolinguistic variable. You'll collect data via a questionnaire. Then, you'll select one variable and analyze sociolinguistic variation using the full class dataset.
Part 1: Variation Survey and Workshop
(Results must be entered in the Google Doc by beginning of class 4/13, workshop in class)
The Survey: You will need to collect data by administering the Variation Survey to at least 5 of your peers. Print-outs will be provided in class, but you may print more from the link, if needed. We will be looking at phonological mergers, morphosyntactic intuitions, and self-reported usage of "lol/z" in this survey. For the first part, participants should read the two words out loud, and circle whether they think they sound the same or different. For the second part, listeners should indicate whether they would say that type of sentence, and if they wouldn't, they should indicate the type of person they think would (if they ask, be sure to note that we're asking more about the sentence structure rather than the actual content of the sentences). In the third part, they'll be providing intuitions about lol/z.
Participants: To introduce a degree of control in our analyses, please only survey native English speakers who have lived in the United States since at least the age of 8 years old. To control further for age and current location, speakers should be current Stanford undergraduates. No linguistics majors or minors, please!
Administering the Survey: Introduce the survey using the instructions at the top of the survey, making sure to emphasize that there are no right or wrong answers. Tell participants that this will take about 10 minutes of their time, and that their responses will be anonymous. If the participants are curious about why we're studying these things, explain only after they've completed the survey (no "hints" or explanations during data collection). Then, give the survey to your speakers to have them fill out themselves, but be present to answer any questions they have. Make sure to note for yourself any interesting commentary they have that might not be reflected on the survey. Be sure to enter your name on the last page under "researcher name," as well as the date and time you conducted the survey. Bring hard copies to class on Wednesday 4/13.
Entering Data: All responses need to be entered into the Google Doc by the beginning of class 4/13. There are two tabs you will fill out for each participant - the first tab includes responses to the mergers and morphosyntactic variation, the second tab includes responses to the lol/z survey. Be sure to fill out each tab completely, with one participant per line. An example line is provided at the top of each sheet. Codes to use for responses are included in the header. For open-ended responses, text should be entered verbatim. Also, include any additional notes you have (comments made or things you noticed) in the last column for each tab.
Workshop: The workshop (Wednesday 4/13) must be attended as part of your assignment grade. In the workshop, we will discuss data collection and how to conduct variationist analysis on the data. You'll select a variable to use for your write-up, and we'll talk about the conclusions that we can (and cannot) draw from the data. You'll have an opportunity to start your analysis in class as well.
Analysis:
Download a copy of the data from the Google Doc as an Excel spreadsheet, or make a copy of the Google Sheet in your own Drive. Please do not work directly from the master sheet!
You should pick one variable or aspect of a variable, as defined in the groups below. If you select a merger or syntactic construction, you should include at least one academic study or article in your background and framing of your paper. If you select an aspect of the lol survey, you should more fully incorporate the qualitative comments in your framing and discussion of results. Remember, categorical variables (those that show no variation in the corpus) should not be analyzed. The groups are as follows:
- Mergers (choose one group):
- PIN-PEN Merger (windy-wendy, hem-him, pin-pen)
- L-controlled mergers (analyze mergers that show variation): FAIL-FELL (fail-fell, jail-gel), PULL-POOL, BOWL-BULL, MEAL-MILL
- Low back Merger (cot-caught, don-dawn)
- Syntactic variation (choose one construction that shows variation, include both quantitative differences and qualitative discussion of who "would say")
- lol Survey (choose one group, use open-ended questions for qualitative discussion of data):
- Pronunciation self-reports
- Frequency of use
- Addressees
You should analyze how at least one social factor conditions variation of your selected variable. Annette will add dialect region as a grouping, classifying the dialect region(s) the speaker lived in for between ages 7 and 18, according to the Atlas of North American English (Labov, Ash & Boberg 2006), listing country lived in if outside the U.S. You may choose to group the self-reported data into broader categories on your own, but you must describe and justify your choices for these groupings in your paper. You are welcomed and encouraged to include multiple social factors in your analysis, particularly if the factor you've selected is not showing differences.
You should report proportions as well as raw counts in a table or tables, and proportions in a chart. You are welcome to perform statistical analysis to assess whether the differences you observe are significant, but you are not required to.
Part 2: Paper (5-7 pages, double spaced)
(due Monday 4/25 by the beginning of class)
For the paper portion of the assignment, you will be writing up your variationist analysis.
To complete this part of the assignment, you will need to:
- Describe your variable and the factors that you're investigating that could condition its variation
- Include at least one background reading (academic book chapter or article) on your variable that justifies your analysis.
- Identify the variants.
- Describe the methods used to collect and analyze data
- Present your results, including a table (showing proportions and raw numbers) and a chart illustrating its usage
- Interpret your results in light of the theoretical work we've talked about so far
In your write-up, you should explain in prose the above information (what is your variable? what's a way it (or something like it) has been studied before? what are the possible variants?). Clearly explain your methods, what your findings were, and briefly interpret them in light of what you know about sociolinguistic variation. Use the studies we've read so far as a guide to presenting results. Be sure to only make claims that you can substantiate with the data we have. You are welcome to describe the additional information or data required to confirm potential interpretations as well.
This paper should be 5-7 pages double-spaced. Email your completed paper to Annette as a PDF or DOC attachment by the beginning of class, Monday April 25.