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Validation of interpretative analysis investigating the methodology: Voice quality in call centre discourse
Author(s)
Date Issued
2009
Citation
Wan, Y. N. (2009 Jul 14). Validation of interpretative analysis investigating the methodology: Voice quality in call centre discourse. The 36' International Systemic Functional Congress, China.
Type
Conference Paper
Abstract
Voice quality features can be viewed as a paralinguistic and multimodal
resource to convey meanings (Leijssen, 2006, Martin, 2007). A number of studies
establish a strong association between voice quality and interpersonal meanings (c.f.
Leijssen, 2006, Stokoe and Edwards, 2007), especially a change in voice quality leads to
a change in interpersonal meaning (Buchbinder, 2008). This is particularly true in
telephone interactions which, because of the absence of visual cues，results in the
communicators relying heavily on ‘differences in voice quality to assess emotional impact’
(McCoyd and Kerson, 2006:402). Voice quality features are significant for expressing
attitude, but the meaning making process is often considered to be unclear and less
systematic in the existing literature. Descriptions of voice quality have traditionally
comprised ‘qualitative terms’ or ‘adjective’ such as warm, rough, creaky, breathy and dull
(Titze and Story, 2002). Some call centre trainers suggest the customer service
representatives (CSR) （to）‘sound’ positive and friendly, or use ‘appropriate tone’ when
communicating with customers. However, typically training materials do not address the relevant voice quality feature before they come up with a conceptual meaning or
interpretation. The voice quality features that result in a ‘positive and friendly voice’ have
not yet been to be fully explored. Drawing on Systemic Functional Linguistics, van
Leeuween (1999) has developed the Systems Network of sound, voice and music, a
highly theorized Sound Quality framework to model the meaning making systems. van
Leeuwen’s (1999) System Network is the starting point for the current voice quality study.
This presentation will show examples of how voice quality features create meaning
potential in call centre context, and the methodology of identifying such features. Bateman
(2008) indicates that multimodal meaning has to be interpreted more rigorously with
transparent validation. Following a qualitative research approach, a preliminary inter-rater
agreement has been conducted to identify obvious voice quality changes that infer a
change in interpersonal meaning. The results of this initial study of voice quality validation
processes can be considered as a new challenge to text and multi-modal analysis. These
findings are crucial to investigate the development of validating voice quality features in
call centre interactions and help to strengthen the credibility of the presented findings. The
current study will be of great benefit to training in the call centre industry and the validation
of multimodal analysis.
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