In contrast to data collected by other data eliciting instruments such as role-play or discourse-completion task (DCT) (cf. Beebe and Cummings 1996), a major advantage of Internet data is their authenticity. Complainers and complainees are not aware of the fact that their comments are subject to linguistic research so that the “‘Observers’ Paradox’ that has traditionally plagued research in the social sciences” (Herring 1996: 5) can be avoided. Thus, neither subjects’ awareness of being the focus of research nor the presence of a researcher or an audio- or videotape can have an impact on subjects’ behaviour.
Furthermore, the chosen database can be easily accessed and the collection of a large amount of data is not too time-consuming, as comments can simply be collected via the options ‘copy’ and ‘paste’. This data collection procedure therefore not only allows for qualitative but also quantitative analysis.
In addition to that, the procedure of ‘copy’ and ‘paste’ bears the advantage that the original comment can be preserved exactly as typed, which is significant for data analysis in CMC (see 4.1.3.). What is more, the effort of transcription or copying needed by other data collection methods is not necessary.
A major advantage of the chosen ‘Web for corpus building’ approach is that, in contrast to studies in which data is collected via Internet-based search engines, it
enables the control of at least some situational variables. This clearly enhances the comparability of data sets in contrastive studies such as the present one.
However, not only the ‘Web for corpus building’ approach but also the particular choice of eBay as database adds to the comparability of the collected British and German data set. Given that all eBay domains are designed in a similar way, the communicative situations on their feedback forums are alike. Precisely, no matter on which eBay domain members registered and take part in business transactions, they all face similarly structured websites, can use the same links, and are subject to the same eBay rules. Additionally, they all have the same amount of background information about their interlocutors, since members’ ID cards display the same facts on all eBay domains. As far as the exchange of feedback comments is concerned, they are always addressed to one trading partner only but are viewable to an audience, namely anyone visiting the website. Furthermore, on all eBay domains the feedback comments are restricted to the same maximum length of 80 characters and can always be complemented by a follow-up of the same maximum length.
The controllability of the present data does not only make the collected British and German data set very alike but also enables a “reproducibility of results by repeating the experiment on a different corpus that has been compiled according to the same criteria” (Lüdeling et al. 2007: 10).
A final noteworthy advantage is what Hundt et al. (2007) call “accessibility”. Data is considered accessible if it can be analysed using “the standard software tools we like working with” (Hundt et al. 2007: 3) after being saved offline. Regarding the present study, this enabled statistical analysis via SPSS 16.0.
Of course, there are also some drawbacks to the chosen approach. Herring (1996), for instance, claims that electronic research brings about “ethical dilemmas” (cf.
Herring 1996: 5) as one can use electronic data for research without informing participants about one’s purpose. Researchers further face the question of how much information about the data sources they should actually reveal in their scientific publication. One extreme position in this respect advocates “that researchers should avoid mention of any specifics concerning the messages or their sources altogether, including the name of the discussion group, so as not to violate the ‘perceived privacy’ of the participants” (Herring 1996: 5). Researchers in
favour of the opposite extreme argue that quoting computer-mediated material without its source is a violation of copyright laws (cf. Cavazos 1995). So far there has been no general agreement about this issue. In the present study it can, however, be argued that feedback forums, in contrast to other forms of CMC, are designed for the public. All eBay users are aware of the fact that their feedback is viewable to anyone visiting the website. As a consequence, they can decide whether they wish to leave a comment at all, as well as whether they want their own feedback profile to be public or private (see 4.1.2.). Regarding the present study, only those subjects were chosen who had made the choice to leave their feedback profile public and were thus aware of the fact that it is open to everyone online. Moreover, eBay members use an alias instead of their real name, which also protects their privacy. However, given that a member’s username may display their real name or may be known to others, they have been left out in the present report so that the preservation of all subjects’ privacy can be guaranteed.
Another disadvantage of the present data is the limited amount of background information available about the chosen complainers and complainees. The only information known about the subjects is the location displayed on their ID card and that both seller and buyer are at least 18 years of age. Any further background information about participants’ characteristics remains unknown (see 4.1.2.).
In light of the cross-cultural focus of the present study, there arises of course the problem that the location displayed on each member’s ID card is not always equivalent to this member’s nationality and mother tongue. Attempts were made to contact a sample of the chosen subjects to ask them about this background information. However, these messages were blocked because eBay bans any contact which does not concern trading issues, since it may violate a member’s privacy. Therefore, the British and German eBay customer service was contacted to find out more about the location given on users’ ID card. Yet, again for the sake of protection, eBay does not give away any statistical information about its customers.
Nonetheless, they revealed that the location displayed on users’ ID card signifies the country they live in and that this information must be genuine, since eBay checks new members’ name and address shortly after registration.
On the other hand, eBay members’ place of residence need not always be equivalent to their nationality. However, as the following Table 4.7 and Figure 4.2
illustrate, the vast majority of the British and German population consist of native people. The numbers are taken from the year 2005, since this is the year in which the majority of the collected complaints were sent. Table 4.7 and Figure 4.2 reveal that in 2005 91.2% of the population in Germany were natives (cf. Albrecht et al.
2007: 119, Federal Statistical Office and the Statistical Offices of the Länder (D_Statis) 2007b), and up to 96% in the UK (cf. Albrecht et al. 2007: 200).
Table 4.7: The ratio of native and foreign population in the UK and Germany in 2005.
UK Germany
Native population 96% 91.2%
Foreign population 4% 8.8%
Figure 4.2: Graphic representation of the ratio of native and foreign population in the UK and Germany in 2005.
Due to these figures and the fact that the data of the present study were randomly selected, it is very likely that the overall results of this study do in fact mirror British and German native speakers’ behaviour.
Nonetheless, since it cannot be guaranteed that all chosen subjects are native speakers, the term “native” is avoided in the present report. The labels “British speakers” and “German speakers” are employed instead.