The Data Base and some Analytic Considerations

Abstract

The exploratory character of the studies we have been able to do so far has been referred to at various points in the preceeding chapters, and it will by now be clear that it has only been possible to focus on a limited range of analytic concerns. Nevertheless, it is hoped that these will have served as an exemplification of the kind of research that may be entailed by adopting the approach outlined in Chapters 1 and 2, and to establish a case for pursuing such investigations further. In this chapter, however, we want to draw attention to some of the more obvious limitations of our studies, and to various ways in which future research (some of which is already under way) might improve on them, either by looking more closely at similar issues, or by investigating others which have yet to be considered. To this end we comment first on the data base and how it might be improved, before making some tentative suggestions about a number of technical problems to which further research might be addressed. These latter are, for the most part, additional to the issues considered in earlier chapters, and have been selected partly to illustrate how the availability of tape-recordings facilitates observations and analyses which could not be done with reference to the main data base used in the research to this point.