Experimental Research Methods in Sociolinguistics

About the Author

Katie Drageris Associate Professor at University of Hawai'i at Manoa, USA.

Product Description

An accessible, user-friendly guide to the variety of different experimental methods used in sociolinguistics, Experimental Research Methods in Sociolinguistics walks students through the “how-to” of experimental methods used to investigate variation in both speech production and perception. Focusing squarely on practice and application, it takes the reader from defining a research question, to choosing an appropriate framework, to completing a research project. Featuring a companion website with information on experiment-friendly software, sample experiments and suggestions for work to undertake, the book also covers:

-Ethical concerns
-How to measure production and perception
-How to construct and use corpora

Review

It's a potentially very useful work that collects together a number of approaches rarely considered in one place. I like the fact that it brings psycholinguistic and phonetic methods into sociolinguistics, while also ensuring that psycholinguists and phoneticians would be exposed to the kinds of questions and data central to sociolinguists.

The strengths include the theoretical breadth of the text, and the author's technical expertise; in addition, the author's undeniable ability to keep students eyes open and their minds on target, despite technical details which will follow in subsequent chapters. If one had any fears that she couldn't carry off this textbook project, the introduction makes clear that her distinctive voice and good humor will keep readers going even in the heavy chapters ... If the author manages to get this book out quickly, there will be nothing like it on the market, and no other researcher who could even come close to the breadth of coverage which her chapter headings promise.

This promises to be a fun book about an important topic. It is most likely to be adopted as a textbook in many sociolinguistic classes, and I'm sure that sociolinguistic students throughout the world will benefit from some clear explanations about how to conduct experimental research.