Methodology Matters: The Impact of Research Design on Conversational Entrainment Outcomes

Abstract

Purpose Conversational entrainment describes the tendency for individuals to alter their communicative behaviors to more closely align with those of their conversation partner. This communication phenomenon has been widely studied, and thus, the methodologies used to examine it are diverse. Here, we summarize key differences in research design and present a test case to examine the effect of methodology on entrainment outcomes. Method Sixty neurotypical adults were randomly assigned to experimental groups formed by a 2 × 2 factorial combination of two independent variables: stimuli organization (blocked vs. random presentation) and stimuli modality (auditory-only vs. audiovisual stimuli). Individuals participated in a quasiconversational design in which the speech of a virtual interlocutor was manipulated to produce fast and slow speech rate conditions. Results There was a significant effect of stimuli organization on entrainment outcomes. Individuals in the blocked, but not the random, groups altered their speech rate to align with the speech rate of the virtual interlocutor. There were no effect of stimuli modality and no interaction between modality and organization on entrainment outcomes. Conclusion Findings highlight the importance of methodological decisions on entrainment outcomes. This underscores the need for more comprehensive research regarding entrainment methodology.

Phonetic Accommodation During Conversational Interactions: An Overview

“…In contrast, mixed patterns of speaking rate accommodation have been found between pairs of English-speaking students working together on a mathematical problem (face-to-face or via shared workspaces; Lubold & Pon-Barry, 2014), between American English adult speakers (Wynn & Borrie, 2020), and between adult speakers of Hebrew and a confederate (Freud et al, 2018).…”

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Classifying conversational entrainment of speech behavior: An expanded framework and review

“…To assist with our explanations of each entrainment subtype, we draw upon literature of speech entrainment in embodied face-face conversations and provide explicit examples using speech rate. However, we note that this framework may be applied to any speech feature and extends beyond naturalistic conversations, to include measurement of entrainment in more controlled methodological paradigms (see Wynn & Borrie, 2020, for a review of different entrainment methodologies).…”

Using the draw and tell method with adolescents as part of an interpretive descriptive study

“…Methodology is a complex concept, encompassing two components of the research approach design and methodsthat guides the process of inquiry (Durdella, 2019;Schwandt, 2015). It is crucial that researchers give due consideration to methodological choices, as even the most seemingly insignificant variation in design may lead to vastly different outcomes (Wynn and Borrie, 2020). Although research papers contribute potentially invaluable information to a field, some research may lack a robust methodology (Chaudhary, 2020), calling into question conclusions offered (Belaroussi et al, 2020;Chaudhary, 2020).…”

“…The methodological approach adopted may alter study outcomes (Wynn and Borrie, 2020), and so the design adopted warrants deliberation. We aimed to conduct a study exploring adolescents' perceptions of mental health services, the results of which have been published elsewhere (Goodwin et al.…”