Uncovering Actionable Insights via the Gricean Maxims
Summary
Turns out, respondents have a lot to say when we actually give them room to talk!
In our newest blog, Ari Janoff, Ph.D. explores how spoken responses are 7x longer and packed with 5x more juicy details than written ones. It's proof (once again) that voice unlocks the kind of insights that written words just whisper.
Transcript
Hello, my name is Christopher, and I'm a linguist or language expert at inVibe. Today, we're going to explore Gricean maxims in healthcare research. Now, Paul Grice proposed four conversational principles that serve as rules of cooperative conversation, describing how typical conversations unfold: quality, quantity, manner, and relation. Attending to how speakers follow or don't follow these rules informs how we interpret what speakers mean to convey when they speak. First, the maximum of quality expects speakers only to say what they believe is true based on sufficient evidence. Since we expect bona fide respondents to provide truthful answers, we usually employ this maxim in cases where respondents think that they’re saying something truthful, but for one reason or another aren't. Recognizing these areas and their likely causes allows us to recommend solutions to our clients to address any information gaps. Next, the maximum of quantity says that speakers should make their contribution as informative as it needs to be for that situation. When listening to healthcare providers discuss new data, for example, experts tend to be practiced, so their explanations tend to be shorter and tighter, while explanations from non-experts are usually longer and have more fluff. Analyzing the extra information then helps us to understand where non-experts are so that our clients can target their messaging efforts accordingly. The third maximum is relation, which assumes that speakers are providing relevant information. If this information, if this assumption is justified, we can make inferences when our participants seemingly go off topic. So, in exploratory research and a new indication, patients may sidestep the question as it's asked and give answers that are more relevant to their experience. Capturing responses like these helps our clients to realign their tactics and even strategies to be more responsive to patient needs.
The final maxim, and my favorite as a linguist, the maxim of manner, asks speakers to say something the normal way. While there isn't one way to say something, there are more common ways so that we can note anything that's atypical or unexpected and read into it. We often employ this maxim when scouring how participants and doctors discuss conditions for novel metaphors or new experiences that can be injected into creative campaigns. Identifying language that's unexpected and authentic helps to ensure that messaging in the next campaign is going to be sticky and that it's going to resonate with those key stakeholders. Thank you for watching! I hope this video has given you an idea of how a focus on language unlocks novel insights that may not emerge from just the content of what is said.