The following discussion will focus on the methodology and instrumentation used to collect data for the main study in addition to the collection methods used for the three sub-studies.
3.4.1 Role plays
Amongst data collection methods, the role play method is considered an effective technique to elicit data in authentic situations (Al-Ghatani, 2010). Like all other methods of collecting data, role plays have been criticized by a number of scholars. For example, Kasper (2000) argues that this method may be influenced by the researcher rather than those who are involved in the interaction. In addition, some researchers claim that this method is limited and does not reflect the reality because the informants may perform imaginary conversations and that may affect the reliability of the elicited data (Golato, 2003; Martínez-Flor 2012; Martínez-Flor & Usó-Juan, 2011).
However, role plays are considered significant and useful in collecting pragmatic data, in addition to being representative of real-life performance (Al-Ghatani, 2010; Golato, 2003; Martínez-Flor & Usó-Juan, 2011). In comparison to other methods of data collection such as Discourse Completion Tasks (DCTs), role plays can provide the researcher with more naturalistic data (Kasper & Dahl, 1991). Furthermore, some scholars argue that eliciting data by using the role play method can help the researcher to control for social variables similar to the DCTs, in addition to being more comprehensive than DCT questionnaires because they are used to elicit oral production data (Golato, 2003; Martínez-Flor 2012; Martínez-Flor & Usó-Juan, 2011; Rintell and Mitchell, 1989).
The main study focuses on politeness behaviour by examining the speech act of requests among Saudi women who live in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. It also focuses on the most important social factors that play a significant role in daily interaction: age, power status, social distance and gender. Hence, the role play method was used to collect data for the main study, allowing the researcher to elicit a spoken form of the speech act of requests and to provide socio-pragmatic control for the social factors through
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face to face interactions. Moreover, this method was chosen to elicit data for the main study because it is more ethnographic and similar to authentic language than the DCTs (Martínez-Flor 2012; Martínez-Flor & Usó-Juan, 2011)
3.4.2 Authentic data (naturally-occurring data)
This method of data collection is also considered one of the most appropriate choices among several researchers in the fields of pragmatics and sociolinguistics. For instance, Boxer (1993) believes that collecting data in its natural context maximizes the validity of the results. In addition, using this method will provide the researcher with data rich in semantic features, diversity and length (Al-Gahtani, 2010; Beebe & Cummings, 1996; Hartford & Bardovi-Harlig, 1992). This method has also been criticized like all other methods of data collection in social contexts. For example, as Tran (2004) noted, natural data does not control for social variables when analysing speech acts. Another issue related to eliciting natural data only is that the researcher may end up with insufficient data that might not include all required elements i.e. social and cultural factors for the analysis.
The role play method was chosen for its validity for the context of the main study that mainly focuses on politeness behaviour and the impact of the social variables on the practices of requests amongst Saudi women. By employing role play method, the researcher was able to include all possible situations that might occur or have occurred with individuals who represent different levels of power and social distance for the participants. Choosing this method was also helpful to elicit data for spoken requests that usually are performed in both situations of low and high degree of imposition. For this reason, employing naturally occurring data for the main study might not cover all required data that include the different levels of power status and social distance in addition to the data of the two levels of the degree of imposition.
On the other hand, the naturally occurring data method was used to collect the data for the three sub- studies for several reasons. The first sub-study and the second sub-study, for example, focused on the linguistic features, on the grammatical structures and on some of the sociolinguistic issues that distinguish the phenomena of both Saudi Pidgin Arabic (SPA) and Arabizi. Additionally, the same method i.e. naturally occurring data were also employed to collect the data of the third sub-study since it also did not focus on the impact of the social variables and its main focus was on the most significant features that distinguish Arabic written requests in their formal context.
It can be said that all data collection methods in pragmatics have been criticized and there is no single method which is perfectly valid for all contexts. Thus, each method was chosen in accordance to its validity for each study. While the participants of the main study were asked to perform role play scenarios, authentic data was collected for the first sub-study that focuses on SPA through audio recording natural conversations between native and non-native speakers of Saudi Arabic. For the second sub-study, authentic data in the form of informal requestive texting were collected by focusing on the phenomenon
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of Arabizi. For the third sub-study, authentic data were also collected in the form of formal requestive emails that have been exchanged amongst the imployees of one of the governmental institutions in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
3.4.3 Background questionnaire
For the third sub-study which examines the phenomenon of Arabizi, twenty participants were asked to fill in a questionnaire that included multiple choice and open-ended questions (see Appendix 4) to provide the participants with more options to express their observations. The questionnaire was distributed in Arabic (Appendix 3) and its main purpose was to elicit the participants’ perception of the cultural and social aspects that surround this linguistic choice of writing amongst Saudi youth. For example, participants were asked:
1- Why do you sometimes write with Arabizi?
I find it easier and faster than using Arabic letters. I feel cool when I write in this way
Because of the lack of support for Arabic script in my (computer/mobile) I have to write with Arabizi because all my friends use it