I used multiple research methods (video-recordings, questionnaires, diaries, observations, informal conversations, and interviews) and the instruments (questionnaires, diaries, and interview questions3) were developed in a two-stage process, beginning with a pilot study. All stages, methods, and instruments including questionnaires, which were employed in the pilot study only, can be viewed in Figure 2- 2 below.
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Stages and Locations
Data collection methods Pilot study NZ & VN Main investigation Stage 2a- Vietnam Main investigation Stage 2b- New Zealand
Figure 2-2 Data collection methods
Given the primacy of the Vietnamese language in my project, I developed all proposed research instruments in Vietnamese first since data collection in participants’ first language may bring more in-depth results (Mullis, Kelly & Haley, 1996). Moreover, my goal is to investigate the language and culture together with the beliefs of native people, so it was appropriate that the research instruments were in their language. Therefore, to ensure the most appropriate versions to use, I had the initial Vietnamese versions checked for comprehension, word usage suitability, and contextual cohesion with three Vietnamese people: a senior lecturer in linguistics, a PhD student in science, and a high school student. Concurrently, I also had those initial Vietnamese versions translated into English for a couple of English-native speakers to check for pragmatic equivalents and then for my supervisors’ guidance. The finalised versions in Vietnamese after being revised upon feedbacks from all those sources were used for the pilot study.
All instruments, except for interview questions, were finalised before the piloting stage. Interview questions were developed at two stages, in the piloting stage and at the later stage of the main investigation, i.e., after diaries, video-clips, and observations and
Diaries (63) Interviews (22) Observations Informal conversations Diaries (2) Questionnaires (6) Interviews (2) Observations Informal conversations Video- recordings Interviews (14) Observations Informal conversations Video- recordings Video- recordings
informal talks. Firstly, before being piloted, interview questions for part one (based on participants’ meals and general practice of VMRIs) and questions for part three (based on the meal scene in the public-video-clip) were designed and finalised. An outline of anticipated interview questions for part two (based on participants’ video-clips, diaries, and field notes (from observations and informal talks) was also proposed at this stage for peers and for supervisors’ guidance. Then, after those participant-specific data had been collected in the main investigation stage and reviewed, part two’s interview questions were reflectively modified, added, or discarded for instrument-based interviews.
The pilot study as the first of two stages, the pilot study and the main investigation, was conducted simultaneously in both research sites, Vietnam and New Zealand4. The pilot study had several purposes. It was firstly to test the proposed research instruments. The second purpose was to judge the initial hypothesis about the use and non-use of VMRIs, and to identify situated contexts of their uses, as well as to look for the initial indicators of their real practice in both Vietnam and New Zealand contexts at the present time. For the pilot study, a small circle of my relatives, acquaintances, friends, and colleagues in both Vietnam and New Zealand were invited to be participants. Given the sensitive aspect of the topic and its possible mediation effects on results of the main investigation if the research focus was known to a wide range of participants, the instruments of questionnaires and interviews, which included more topic-focused questions than diaries, were piloted on the same three Vietnamese people mentioned above and three other friends and relatives, while diaries were piloted with two other participants who were available. Thus, six people, three residing in Auckland (two Master’s students and an undergraduate) and the other three in Vietnam (a senior lecturer in linguistics, a PhD student in science, and a high school student) were the participants for the pilot study. Findings from the pilot study resulted in some changes in terms of what and how instruments were employed in the main investigation in each research site. After piloting, I decided not to use questionnaires in both research sites, and not to use diaries in New Zealand for the main investigation. Unsatisfactory results after piloting questionnaires and diaries with three participants in New Zealand, together with a reported anticipation of limitations in using written Vietnamese and written English
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amongst some Vietnamese Auckland-dwellers, influenced me not to employ these two methods in this research site. Although questionnaires showed good results after being piloted with three participants in Vietnam, I also decided not to use questionnaires in Vietnam for several reasons. Firstly, when the further investigation with video- recordings, diaries, and interviews was conducted in Vietnam, the richness of data provided by these methods outweighed the value of the questionnaire data. This is because questionnaires could not cover all complexities of the researched area and what could be provided from questionnaires could be drawn from video-recordings, diaries, and interviews. Moreover, my purpose in using questionnaires to gather “a large amount of data quickly, creating an initial classification of semantic formulas, and ascertaining the structure of speech act(s) under consideration” (Cohen, 1996, p. 25) was not so strong after I had compared an analysis of preliminary data with piloted questionnaires and other proposed methods. Preliminary findings showed that questionnaires could gather only formulaic patterns of VMRIs while other various contextualised and situated structures of VMRIs were also revealed in other methods, namely video-clips, diaries, and interviews. Consequently, there was no need to complicate the methods used for getting repeated data. Without the application of questionnaires, triangulation purpose could still be satisfied with the use of a variety of other data gathering methods and data from different ranges of participants. Thus, the pilot study suggested that the main investigation should use video-recordings, interviews, observations and informal talks in both New Zealand and Vietnam; and diaries as an extra instrument employed in Vietnam only.