Publisher Description

Critical Sociolinguistic Research Methods is a guide to conducting concrete ethnographic and discourse analytic research projects, written by top scholars for students and researchers in social science fields. Adopting a critical perspective focusing on the role of language in the construction of social difference and social inequality, the authors walk the reader through five key moments in the life of a research project: composing research questions, designing the project, doing fieldwork, performing data analysis and writing academic texts or otherwise engaging in conversation with different types of social actors about the project. These moments are illustrated by colour-coded examples from the authors' experiences that help researchers and students follow the sequential stages of a project.Now in its second edition, this popular and original text has been revised and updated to reflect the latest developments in this field, including expanded sections on the centrality of the ethnographic gaze for the understanding of social processes, and on experiences of diversification in the communication of research results. Through the adoption of multimodal genres, authors share recent experiences of research presentations addressed to non-academic audiences, such as installations and photography, and interactive maps.Clear and highly applicable, with a detailed workbook full of practical tips and examples, this book is a great resource for graduate-level qualitative methods courses in linguistics and anthropology, as well as methods courses in the humanities and social sciences that focus on the role of language in research. It is a timely text for investigating language issues that matter and have consequences for people's lives.

Table of Contents

List of IllustrationsAcknowledgementsIntroduction0.1 Why Language Matters Now0.2 Research as Socially Constructed Knowledge0.3 Research as Experience and as Conversation0.4 The Research Process: Sequencing, Recursivity and Rhizome0.5 The Authors as Your Guides and Conversational Partners0.6 Summary1 First Key Moment: Formulating Your Research Question1.1 Research Questions as (Hi)Stories and Conversations1.2 Different Ways to Get to Your Research Questions1.3 Reflexivity, Ethics and Research Questions1.4 Summary2 Second Key Moment: Designing Your Research2.1 What Is Research Design?2.2 Research Design as Projected Work Plan2.3 Where to Start? With Whom?2.4 Approaches and Evidence2.5 Data Recording and Documentation2.6 Ethics and Politics2.7 Research Design as Discursive Genre2.8 Summary3 Third Key Moment: Generating your Data3.1 Fieldwork: Producing Data3.2 Observing: Finding Out What People Do3.3 Eliciting: Finding Out What People Say3.4 Material Traces: Other Voices3.5 Summary4 Fourth Key Moment: Analyzing Your Data4.1 What Is Analysis? What Does It Feel Like to Do It?4.2 Mapping (and Categorizing)4.3 Tracing4.4 Connecting4.5 Claiming4.6 Analysis as Ethical and Political Conversation4.7 Pulling It Together4.8 Summary5 Fifth Key Moment: Making Your Story5.1 Writing the Story the Research Tells5.2 Researchers as Knowledge Producers5.3 Genre Expectations5.4 Knowledge Mobilization5.5 Summary6 Shop Floor6.1 Introduction: What Do We Mean by Shop Floor?6.2 Moment 2: Designing Your Research6.3 Moment 3: Generating Your Data6.4 Moment 4: Analyzing Your Data6.5 Moment 5: Making Your StoryEpilogueReferencesFurther ReadingIndex

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