grammatical constraints and motivations for - University of the ...

4.2.1 Transcripts and Data Analysis
As this study relies on a transcript to provide the data for the analysis, it is
necessary to consider some of the advantages of relying on audio and transcripts
when conducting qualitative research.
Silverman (2000: 149) argues that tapes and transcripts are beneficial for
qualitative research as, “… they are a public record, available to the scientific
community, in a way that field notes are not… they can be replayed and
transcriptions can be improved and analyses taken off on a different tack
unlimited by the original transcript.”
Lastly, researchers have flexibility in selecting sequences of utterances for
analysis as they have the option of including or excluding extracts used by
previous researchers, should they opt to use the same transcript. While this is not
the case with this study since the audio used was transcribed for the first time, the
transcript will be available to other researchers who may then select the utterances
which they wish to analyze.
Tapes and transcripts, therefore, are beneficial in that they are public records, can
be replayed and reconsulted, and are also available for future researchers to
analyze in whichever manner they may choose.
4.2.2 Conversation Analysis
According to Wei (1998), Peter Auer’s 1984 publication, Bilingual Conversation,
marked a turning point in research on the phenomenon of codeswitching.
Situational codeswitching was thought to be triggered by a change in situational
context and the assumption was that, “… only one of the co-available languages
or language varieties was appropriate for a particular situation and that speakers
needed to change their choice of language to keep up with the changes in
situational factors in order to maintain that appropriateness.” (Wei, 1998: 156)
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