Combining the macro, meso and micro in identity research in health care interactions

Abstract

IIn recent years there has been a splurge of sociolinguistic research that draws on authentic interactional data in various healthcare contexts. The typical practice in this research is to supplement the primary data with other sources (e.g. ethnographic data, such as participant observation or interviews) in order to obtain further contextual information about participants, their CoPs, etc. In this paper we wish to challenge this categorical dichotomy of ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ data and call for a more inclusive approach to collecting, analyzing and treating discourse data. We argue that because different kinds of data provide different insights into the phenomenon under investigation and thus produce a more rounded and more nuanced picture, they are particularly crucial for research on the complex and often contradictory processes ...