Figure 7: Western Sentani narrative Papua province, Indonesia – Segment scores
Segment Segment
score Segment
1 4
Segment 2
3 Segment
3 4
Segment 4
3 Segment
5 4
Segment 6
4 Segment
7 2
Segment 8
3 Segment
9 4
Segment 10
4 Total RTT score
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3.2. TESTING PROCEDURES
The RTT testing procedures are the same as outlined for the hometown panel pre-testing: subjects are tested individually and listen to the recorded text over headphones; they are required to retell the recorded text segment by
segment in their L1.
Regarding the number of auditions, the team may decide to choose one of two alternatives, both of which have advantages and disadvantages:
1. Two auditions: During the first audition, respondents listen to the text in its entirety. During the second
audition, respondents listen to the recorded text segment by segment and are required to retell the respective segments in their L1.
Advantage: Subjects are given access to the overall content before being required to retell the
recorded text segment by segment. Overall, this procedure of listening to a cohesive discourse appears to be more natural and closer to daily communicative interactions.
Disadvantage: Subjects may focus on the text in its entirety and therefore be tempted to retell more
than one segment at a time. Subsequently, they may leave out some details of a particular segment.
2. One audition: Respondents listen to the recorded text segment by segment, without the opportunity to
listen to the text in its entirety first. After the first audition of a segment, respondents are required to paraphrase the respective segment in their L1.
Advantage: Subjects focus on one segment at a time.
Disadvantage: Overall, this procedure appears to be less natural since the cohesive discourse is broken
down and presented in segments, without giving subjects access to the overall content. In light of the different advantages and disadvantages of the two approaches, it is recommended that the survey team
choose one of the two approaches before the commencement of the hometown panel pre-testing and subsequently maintain consistency in its testing procedures throughout the entire research project. Such consistency is important in
order to ensure that respondents’ responses are comparable to those of the hometown panel and also comparable to each other.
Respondents are required to retell or paraphrase a given segment in their L1 with an interpreter translating the responses into the survey team’s working language, e.g., Indonesian or English. The researcher should write down the complete
answer rather than just noting “right” or “wrong” since “obviously right” or “obviously wrong” responses sometimes turn out to be half-correct.
When respondents’ responses are incomplete or incorrect, the researchers may probe for missing parts and replay the particular segment. Again, it is important to maintain consistency across researchers and throughout the entirety of the
research project in terms of the extent of probing and the number of replays. All probing question and answer
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exchanges as well as replays should be well documented so that the researchers can review and discuss them if necessary.
3.3. SCORING PROCEDURES
