CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
Not a week goes without my telling lie, but I suppose that is the same
for most people. The polite but untrue compliments we offer can be dismissed as “white lies”—small lies we tell to protect ourselves and others from trouble or
embarrassment.
[Kyoko Mori, Polite Lies p. 211]
3.1. Method of Research
Even though my present thesis analyzes the use of language to express politeness in certain language community, I do not conduct any field research.
Instead, I perform library research since all the data are taken from Kyoko Mori’s novel Polite Lies. In order to keep my analysis is always on the right path, I gather
some information by reading the books, dictionaries, and journals which supply relevant definition, concept, idea, and theory to my research.
3.2. Method of Collecting Data
During the process of collecting data, I apply what Dede Oetomo says in Suyanto’s Metode Penelitian Sosial that there are three methods of collecting
data, i.e. interview, observation, and analysis on written documents such as quotation, notes, memorandums, publications and official reports, diaries, and
written answer to questioner and survey Suyanto 1995: 186. Oetomo’s way of collecting data actually is not much different from Mahsun’s. The only difference
Universitas Sumatera Utara
is that Mahsun Mahsun 2005: 218 does not clearly provide certain area to the data taken from written document since he replaced Oetomo’s the third way of
collecting data with survey. Since my primary data will be analyzed in this thesis are quoted from Kyoko Mori’s novel Polite Lies, I can classify my method of
collecting into the third method. As the first step of collecting the data, I read the novel once through. Then, I
reread the novel by focusing my attention on the verbal interaction, i.e. conversation performed by the characters in the novel. According to the
relationship between the main character, Kyoko Mori, and other characters, I find out that there are two main contexts of conversation, i.e.:
1 The conversation between Kyoko Mori and her Japanese families, relatives,
and friends 2
The conversation between Kyoko Mori and her husband, who is American, and her American friends
As the analysis on my present thesis is limited to the politeness phenomena in Japan, I reread the novel for the third times and focus my attention to the
conversation carried out by Kyoko Mori and her Japanese families, relatives, and friends. These conversations then I list and number so that it is easier to analyze
the data in the process of analyzing the data.
3.3. Method of Analysis
