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Empirical research into the processing of free indirect discourse and the imperative of ecological validity

  • Geoff M. Hall
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Directions in Empirical Literary Studies
This chapter is in the book Directions in Empirical Literary Studies

Abstract

This paper uses two principal examples to argue that experimentalist research paradigms in empirical literary research can be suggestive but that results are not easily extrapolatable to actual real world literary reading events, particularly where, as with free indirect discourse (fid), the phenomenon to be investigated is demonstrably complex, multifaceted and highly contingent. More broadly, the paper raises the issue of whether in fact most literary reading is not typically as complicated as fid, in which case complementary or alternative research approaches may be needed. I close by advocating more nuanced qualitative or ethnographic approaches which respect the complexity of the phenomena under investigation to achieve better understanding, even at the possible expense of seductively neat graphs, tables and statistics. As van Peer suggests in my opening epigraph, empirical research at its best can be highly suggestive. My argument is simply that we need always to remember that what we think of as empirical research should not be limited to experimentalist paradigms. The empirical literary research community will be able to say more useful things about fid and the wider complexities of literary reading by complementing more experimentalist work with more contextually sensitive investigations, to the mutual benefit of both.

Abstract

This paper uses two principal examples to argue that experimentalist research paradigms in empirical literary research can be suggestive but that results are not easily extrapolatable to actual real world literary reading events, particularly where, as with free indirect discourse (fid), the phenomenon to be investigated is demonstrably complex, multifaceted and highly contingent. More broadly, the paper raises the issue of whether in fact most literary reading is not typically as complicated as fid, in which case complementary or alternative research approaches may be needed. I close by advocating more nuanced qualitative or ethnographic approaches which respect the complexity of the phenomena under investigation to achieve better understanding, even at the possible expense of seductively neat graphs, tables and statistics. As van Peer suggests in my opening epigraph, empirical research at its best can be highly suggestive. My argument is simply that we need always to remember that what we think of as empirical research should not be limited to experimentalist paradigms. The empirical literary research community will be able to say more useful things about fid and the wider complexities of literary reading by complementing more experimentalist work with more contextually sensitive investigations, to the mutual benefit of both.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction ix
  4. Part I. Theoretical and philosophical perspectives
  5. Studying literature and being empirical: A multifaceted conjunction 7
  6. Empirical research into the processing of free indirect discourse and the imperative of ecological validity 21
  7. Notes toward a new philology 35
  8. A theory of expressive reading 49
  9. Part II. Psychology, foregrounding and literature
  10. Textual and extra-textual manipulations in the empirical study of literary response 75
  11. Foregrounding and feeling in response to narrative 89
  12. Two levels of foregrounding in literary narratives 103
  13. Narrative empathy and inter-group relations 113
  14. Effects of reading on knowledge, social abilities, and selfhood: Theory and empirical studies 127
  15. Imagining what could happen: Effects of taking the role of a character on social cognition 139
  16. Part III. Computers and the humanities
  17. An automated text analysis: Willie Van Peer's academic contributions 161
  18. Computationally Discriminating Literary from Non-Literary Texts 175
  19. Metaphors and software-assisted cognitive stylistics 193
  20. Searching for style in modern American poetry 211
  21. The laws governing the history of poetry 229
  22. Consolidating empirical method in data-assisted stylistics: Towards a corpus-attested glossary of literary terms. 243
  23. Part IV. REDES Project: The new generation
  24. Empirical evaluation: Towards an automated index of lexical variety 271
  25. Language allergy: Myth or reality 283
  26. Proper names in the translation of The Lord of the Rings 297
  27. Threat and geographical distance: the case of North Korea 309
  28. The Apology of Popular Fiction: Everyday Uses of Literature in Poland 317
  29. Afterword. A Matter of versifying: Tradition, innovation and the sonnet form in English 329
  30. About the contributors 343
  31. Index of authors 351
  32. Index of keywords 355
https://doi.org/10.1075/lal.5.04hal

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction ix
  4. Part I. Theoretical and philosophical perspectives
  5. Studying literature and being empirical: A multifaceted conjunction 7
  6. Empirical research into the processing of free indirect discourse and the imperative of ecological validity 21
  7. Notes toward a new philology 35
  8. A theory of expressive reading 49
  9. Part II. Psychology, foregrounding and literature
  10. Textual and extra-textual manipulations in the empirical study of literary response 75
  11. Foregrounding and feeling in response to narrative 89
  12. Two levels of foregrounding in literary narratives 103
  13. Narrative empathy and inter-group relations 113
  14. Effects of reading on knowledge, social abilities, and selfhood: Theory and empirical studies 127
  15. Imagining what could happen: Effects of taking the role of a character on social cognition 139
  16. Part III. Computers and the humanities
  17. An automated text analysis: Willie Van Peer's academic contributions 161
  18. Computationally Discriminating Literary from Non-Literary Texts 175
  19. Metaphors and software-assisted cognitive stylistics 193
  20. Searching for style in modern American poetry 211
  21. The laws governing the history of poetry 229
  22. Consolidating empirical method in data-assisted stylistics: Towards a corpus-attested glossary of literary terms. 243
  23. Part IV. REDES Project: The new generation
  24. Empirical evaluation: Towards an automated index of lexical variety 271
  25. Language allergy: Myth or reality 283
  26. Proper names in the translation of The Lord of the Rings 297
  27. Threat and geographical distance: the case of North Korea 309
  28. The Apology of Popular Fiction: Everyday Uses of Literature in Poland 317
  29. Afterword. A Matter of versifying: Tradition, innovation and the sonnet form in English 329
  30. About the contributors 343
  31. Index of authors 351
  32. Index of keywords 355
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