An analysis of conversations in the medical context

Abstract

This thesis entitled “An Analysis of Conversations in the Medical Context” was carried out to find out some of the basic components of conversations. The main objectives of the study were to make an analysis of opening, overlapping, pause and closing of conversations and to present the frequency of above mentioned parts of conversations. To fulfill the objectives of the study, both primary and secondary sources of data were used. For the collection of primary data, a tape recorder cum player was used. The researcher recorded 15 conversations in a hospital for the study. After analyzing the data, it was found that most of the conversations started with situational expression like ‘do you use thermometer’ and ended with the terms like ‘ok bye’, bye-bye’ and maximally with situational expression like ‘is it normal’, ‘no need to worry’. It was also found that the frequency of overlap is less than the frequency of pause in conversations.

The thesis consists of four chapters. The first chapter includes general background, review of literature, objectives, significance of the study and definition of terms. Chapter two deals with the methodology adopted for the study under which the sources of data, sampling procedure, tools for data collection, procedure of data collection and limitations of the study are also mentioned. Similarly, the third chapter presents the analysis and interpretation of the conversations. The last chapter discusses the findings and recommendations of the research. The references and appendices form the concluding part of the thesis.