Table 1. Names of randomly selected sites
Province Densely Populated Sites
Sparsely Populated Sites
Chiang Mai Mae Raem subdistrict, Mae Rim district
On Neua subdistrict, Mae On district Chiang Rai
Nong Raet subdistrict, Thoeng district Nong Pa Ko subdistrict, Doi Luang district
Lampang Lampang Luang subdistrict, Ko Kha district
Luang Tai subdistrict, Ngao district Nan
Du Tai subdistrict, Mueang Nan district Na Thanung subdistrict, Na Meun district
Phayao Thung Kluai subdistrict, Phu Sang district
Ban Tham subdistrict, Dok Khamtai district Phrae
Huai Rai subdistrict Den Chai district Ban Klang subdistrict, Song district
Figure 6. Map of randomly selected sites.
3.4 Subject selection
Because of the difficulty in obtaining a random sampling frame, the researchers used a quota sample within randomly selected sites. The quota sample used is laid out in table 3.
Table 3. Subject selection for recorded text testing
Sample Size by Strata Under Age 40
Over Age 40 Total
Female 5
5 10
Male 5
5 10
Total 10
10 20
All subjects were screened to ensure they were born in the district in which the survey was being conducted. Exceptions were made if the subject had moved to the area before starting school before age
five. All subjects also had to be native speakers of Northern Thai and at least fifteen years old at the time of the survey. Within each randomly selected site, subjects were selected according to convenience.
In most villages visited, researchers walked throughout the village and interviewed the first five subjects in each demographic category that fit the above characteristics. In some villages, however, government
officials offered to help the research team find subjects to interview, in which case the subjects who fit the criteria were brought to a central location to be interviewed.
In doing this type of sampling, the research team acknowledges the difficulty in making the results generalizable to a whole population. Where possible, the research team has done random sampling, for
example in selecting sites to survey. However, since the team elected to use a quota sampling method in selecting individuals to interview, it is not possible to generalize the results to all Northern Thai
speakers. The research team believes, though, that the individuals interviewed are roughly representative of other Northern Thai people in the same demographic categories.
3.5 Fieldwork timeline
This survey was broken into two parts: story collection and story testing. In the first part, the survey team traveled to each of seven provinces of Northern Thailand to collect short speech samples
representative of that province. The stories were then pilot-tested in that province to ensure that the stories were clear, understandable, and not offensive in any way, as well as representative of the accent
of that province. This part of the fieldwork took place from November 4–23, 2011.
The second half of the survey involved testing the collected stories with people from each province. Two different sites were randomly selected from each province, and surveyors visited those sites over a
period of two months, from December 13, 2011 to February 9, 2012.
3.6 Analysis
