Evaluation:

I feel as though my data collection was ordinary however successful. The conversation consisted of participants who knew one another. This allowed the partakers to feel comfortable in each other’s company which meant they could speak of any kind to their peers. The location in which I chose was ideal for my research as I did not want them to be put in a specific place which could make them feel under pressure because this would not allow the conversation to flow naturally. The fact I had 2 males and only 1 female determined my data immensely as it predetermined the data verbosity. My analysis could have included points about code switching and how much of code switching was used due to mixed sex conversation. I could have explained how perhaps the female participant felt insecure because she was the only female in the conversation. To carry my investigation further I could have recorded a conversation between 2 females and only 1 male, this would have given me the opportunity to relate and distinguish how females change their language when with just 1 male as oppose to 2 males. For example I could have looked at Lakoff’s theory about the use of women’s compliments to one another. Lakoff stated that women tend to give and receive more compliments than men, based on this research I would compare the use of any compliments in my data and because no compliments were used, this could have supported Lakoff’s theory. In my analysis the aspects I focused on were appropriate because my question “who is more dominant in a conversation men or women?” I looked at verbosity to see who is speaking more which I allowed me to judge who was more dominant. I also looked at hedges because this instantly directed whether or not someone is confident in their speech or not. By