Research Methods in Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics: A Practical Guide

Research Methods in Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics introduces a wide range of research philosophies, methods, and tools used across linguistics, phonetics, and speech science, as applied to disordered speech and language. Comprised of sixteen chapters, each authored by specialists representing a variety of approaches, the volume addresses core topics for students undertaking their own research, including:

experimental and quasi–experimental methods qualitative methods, including ethnography and conversation analysis sociolinguistics corpus construction and analysis data recording, transcription, and digital analysis of speech

In addition to exploring these and other topics, the volume considers the research ethics associated with working with those who have speech or other communication difficulties. There is a detailed discussion of the dissemination of research results in the form of theses, dissertations, and journal articles, and of the peer review process. Chapters include summary boxes to highlight salient information, and resources for researchers such as relevant web archives and tools. It offers students and researchers from a variety of entry points such as linguistics, education, psychology, and speech pathology an introduction to the scope of research in clinical linguistics and phonetics, and a practical guide to this interdisciplinary field.

Notes on Contributors vii

1 Linguistics, Phonetics, and Speech–Language Pathology: Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics 1
Nicole Müller and Martin J. Ball

2 Research Ethics 10
Thomas W. Powell

3 Experimental and Quasi–experimental Research in Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics 28
Vesna Mildner

4 The Investigation of Speech Production: Experimental and Quasi–experimental Approaches 48
B. May Bernhardt, Penelope Bacsfalvi, Marcy Adler–Bock, Geetanjalee Modha, and Barbara Purves

5 Investigating Disordered Language: Experimental and Quasi–experimental Approaches 63
Judith D. Oxley

6 Qualitative Research in Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics 87
Nicole Müller

7 An Ethnographic Approach to Assessing Communication Success in Interactions Involving Adults with Developmental Delay 107
Jacqueline Guendouzi and Paula S. Currie

8 Conversation Analysis Applied to Disordered Speech and Language 126
Scott Barnes and Alison Ferguson

9 Clinical Sociolinguistics 146
Martin J. Ball and Louise Keegan

10 The Recording of Audio and Video Data 160
Ben Rutter and Stuart Cunningham

11 Data Processing: Transcriptional and Impressionistic Methods 177
Martin J. Ball, Sara Howard, Nicole Müller, and Angela Granese

12 Data Processing: Digital Analysis of Speech Audio Signals 195
Mark Huckvale

13 Data Processing: Imaging of Speech Data 219
Joan Rahilly

14 Data Analysis and Interpretation: Statistical Methods 253
Eleonora Rossi

15 AphasiaBank: Data and Methods 268
Brian MacWhinney, Davida Fromm, Audrey Holland, and Margaret Forbes

16 Disseminating Research: Reading, Writing, and Publishing 288
Sharynne McLeod

Index 311

Nicole Müller is Professor of Communicative Disorders at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and holds a Hawthorne–BORSF Endowed Professorship. She is co–editor of the journal Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics and of the book series Communication Disorders Across Languages. She is the co–author of Approaches to Discourse in Dementia (with J. A. Guendouzi, Lawrence Erlbaum Association, 2006), editor of Multilayered Transcription (Plural, 2007), and co–editor of The Handbook of Language and Speech Disorders (with J. S. Damico and M. J. Ball, Wiley–Blackwell, 2010).

Martin J. Ball is Hawthorne–BORSF Endowed Professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He is co–editor of the journal Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics and two book series: Communication Disorders Across Languages  and Language and Speech Disorders (with J. S. Damico). He co–edited The Handbook of Clinical Linguistics (with M. Perkins, N. Müller and S. Howard, Wiley–Blackwell, 2008) and The Celtic Languages (with N. Müller, Routledge, 2009), and co–wrote Phonology for Communication Disorders (with N. Müller and B. Rutter, Psychology Press, 2010).

It offers students and researchers from a variety of entry points such as linguistics, education, psychology, and speech–language pathology and introduction to the scope of research in clinical linguistics and phonetics, and a practical guide to this interdisciplinary field.   (Clinical Linguistics, 28 September 2012)