Doing Sociolinguistics: A practical guide to data collection and analysis

Doing Sociolinguistics: A practical guide to data collection and analysis provides an accessible introduction and guide to the methods of data collection and analysis in the field of sociolinguistics. It offers students the opportunity to engage directly with some of the foundational and more innovative work being done in the quantitative or variationist paradigm. Divided into sixteen short chapters, Doing Sociolinguistics: can be used as a core text in class or as an easy reference whilst undertaking research walks readers through the different phases of a sociolinguistic project, providing all the knowledge and skills students will need to conduct their own analyses of language features excerpts from key research articles; exercises with real data from the authors’ own research; sample answers to the exercises; and further reading is supported by the Routledge Sociolinguistics Companion website (www.routledge.com/textbooks/meyerhoff) which features further online exercises with sound files. Designed to function as both a core text for methods classes in sociolinguistics and as a companion to the Routledge textbook Introducing Sociolinguistics, this book will be essential reading for all students studying and researching in this area.

Table of Contents:
Preface and User Guide PART ONE – DATA COLLECTION 1. Finding a topic 2. Sample design and the envelope of variation 3. Ethics and archiving 4. Sampling techniques and gaining access to speakers 5. Interviews as a source of data 6. Naturally-occurring, spontaneous speech as a source of data 7. Corpora as a source of data 8. Written surveys and questionnaires as a source of data 9. Studying perceptions and attitudes PART TWO – DATA ANALYSIS 10. Transcription 11. Identifying, coding & summarising your data 12. Analysing your data 13. Presenting your data 14. Analysing multiple independent variables 15. Mixing qualitative and quantitative analysis 16. Writing up your research

About the Author :
Miriam Meyerhoff is Professor of Linguistics at Victoria University of Wellington. Erik Schleef is Senior Lecturer in the Division of Linguistics and English Language at the University of Manchester, UK. Laurel MacKenzie is Lecturer in the Division of Linguistics and English Language at the University of Manchester, UK.

Review :
"A highly practical and readable "how to" guide written by expert researchers, filled to the brim with helpful tips … valuable both as a textbook and as a field handbook." James N. Stanford, Dartmouth College, USA "These highly experienced researchers walk the budding sociolinguist through the essential stages in data collection and analysis in a no-nonsense yet highly engaging manner." Jennifer Smith, Glasgow University, UK "It's hard to think of another book that takes the reader so quickly and effortlessly into the heart of the field of sociolinguistic research." Nick Evans, Australian National University "Doing Sociolinguistics is a highly practical and readable "how to" guide written by expert researchers who know what they are doing when they do sociolinguistics. The book is filled to the brim with helpful tips and exactly the right kinds of information needed for successful data collection and analysis in the quantitative or variationist paradigm. The authors have carefully organized their advice into easy-to-follow sections with clear examples, step-by-step guidelines, case studies, exercises, practical statistics, and helpful suggestions for further reading, making the book valuable both as a textbook and as a field handbook." James N. Stanford, Dartmouth College, USA "Doing Sociolinguistics is a perfectly pitched title for a perfectly planned book by three perfectly placed sociolinguists. These highly experienced researchers walk the budding sociolinguistic through the essential stages in data collection and analysis in a no-nonsense yet highly engaging manner, pinpointing the key questions along the way: how much data do I need? why would I want to use a corpus? what should a graph do? In doing so, the book manages to provide a fully comprehensive ‘how to’ guide but yet in a highly accessible, ‘clear and casual' way. A most welcome addition to methods in sociolinguistic research." Jennifer Smith, Glasgow University, UK "This genially written and deceptively chatty guide leads the reader through the whole trajectory of sociolinguistic research, from conceiving the questions through data gathering, and on through statistical analysis and graphic presentation of results to sound design on writing up a research article. It's hard to think of another book that takes the reader so quickly and effortlessly into the heart of the field." Nick Evans, Australian National University