Whitehead, Melissa (2009) Similtaneous Talk within a Qualitative Research Interview. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
This study examined simultaneous talk within a qualitative research interview. Interviewers are advised to not engage in such talk as it is thought to disrupt a respondent’s responses. Opposing arguments consider responses to be sufficiently robust to cope with minimal interruptions from an interviewer (Hollway & Jefferson, 2000). Against these recommendations, both interviewers and respondents regularly engage in simultaneous talk within interviews in line with natural conversation. However, it was predicted that the interviewer’s simultaneous talk would not impact on the respondent’s response. Conversation Analysis was employed to identify and analyse instances of simultaneous talk and to assess their influence on conversations carried out in a qualitative research interview. The study used archived interview data from Wetherell and Potter’s (1992) project on racial issues in New Zealand. The current study attempted to answer whether simultaneous talk was appropriate within research interviews by contrasting two alternative approaches to understanding simultaneous talk in a qualitative research interview. It contrasted the typological properties proposed by Ferguson’s taxonomy (Ferguson, 1977) with the interactional properties proposed by Jefferson’s overlap-onset observations (Jefferson, 1984). Based on previous research, it was anticipated that instances of simultaneous talk would be able to be categorised using Ferguson’s taxonomy. However, it was understood that these categories would provide little information about the function of this simultaneous talk other than to say that it acts as a speaker change device. In contrast, it was predicted that Jefferson’s overlap-onset observations would permit the identification of the essential features of simultaneous talk, including their form, location and function. Two instances of simultaneous talk initiated by the interviewer were examined, with their form, location and function effectively identified drawing on Jefferson’s observations about overlap-onset. It was shown that these instances were slightly interruptive; however, they were used in a manner intended to aid the respondent and were thus appropriate. One instance of simultaneous talk initiated by the respondent was also found to be interruptive, but it was found to progress the conversation towards meaningful completeness. These findings can not be generalised beyond the interview examined, and it is recommended that similar instances of simultaneous talk are examined in other qualitative research interviews to observe how other interviewers use simultaneous talk.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Sciences - Department of Psychology (Up to 30 Jun 2013) |
| Supervisors: | Christensen, Steve |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Science (Honours) (Psychology) |
| Date Deposited: | 16 Mar 2026 03:18 |
| Last Modified: | 16 Mar 2026 03:18 |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52873 |
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