3. Research Design
3.1 Participants
The participants in this research project are all young women from Vietnam, who recently came
to Australia to commence their postgraduate studies. All three females voluntarily agreed to
participate in the project. These three females were aged between 23 and 26 years (one was 23
and two were 26). Prior to participating, they were all informed about the research project, and
about their rights to withdraw from the project at any time, without penalty, and without
providing a reason for withdrawing.
3.2 Sources of Data
The sources of data for this research project consisted of conversations and observations. These
data were collected during a social get‐together at one of the participant’s houses in Brisbane,
Australia in 2009. At that time, the conversations were recorded and observations were noted
by the author. The recorded data were later transcribed for analysis.
Note that the examples of Vietnamese talk are transcribed and presented in italics, the
Standard English translations are presented in single quotation marks, and the non‐verbal
expression of interest is represented in Standard English in square brackets.
4. Results and Discussion
Recall that this research project aims to identify the ways in which young Vietnamese women
express politeness during interaction. The collected data are carefully examined.
4.1 Forms of Address
The conversation presented below takes place at Huong’s house, after Mai drops by for a visit.
Huong and Mai are both 26 years of age. The following example begins with Mai addressing a
question to Huong, in Vietnamese.