35 carefully in order to find verbal humour within it and categorize the verbal
humour into some types. The researcher also uses many other documents as the secondary sources such as books, journals, and articles in order to conduct a
deeper analysis.
B. Research Object
The object of this study is the BBC Radio Comedy Series, Cabin Pressure: Abu Dhabi, written by John Finnemore and produced and directed by
David Tyler. It is a part of a radio drama series broadcasted by BCC Radio 4, which has 26 episodes categorized into four series with about 30 minute running
time for each. Abu Dhabi is the first episode of the first series which is aired in 2008 for the very first time.
The episode starts when the CEO of MJN Air, Carolyn, prohibit her pilots, Douglas and Martin, to divert their airplane as it would costs a lot of money.
Carolyn‟s decision is a result of the fact that the both pilots have flown a very expensive flight to Bristol before. While flying to Abu Dhabi, Douglas realises
that the client‟s cat left in the unheated hold, making Martin confused if they have to divert to save the cat or to let the cat freeze to death. In the meantime, Arthur
attempts to find out how aeroplanes fly.
C. Instruments and Data Gathering Technique
The main instrument used for this study is human instrument. According to Ary, Jacobs, Sorensen, and Razavieh 2010, human instrument is believed as a
flexible instrument that becomes the primary instrument for gathering and analysing data in qualitative studies p.424. In this study, the researcher plays as
36 human instrument in data collection and analysing the data. The role of the
researcher in this study is to collect the verbal humour within the object of the study, identify the types of verbal humour found, categorize them into some
classes, and analyse them linguistically using GTVH. The data for this study is gathered by employing document and artefacts
data collection technique. Ary, Jacobs, Sorensen, and Razavieh 2010 mention that researchers may employ this document and artefacts data collection technique
in order to understand phenomena under study. The term document includes a wide range of written, physical and visual materials, whereas artefacts refer to
audio and video recordings, photographs, games, artwork, or other items p. 442. This research, however, will focus more on the written documents, specifically the
transcript of the first episode of Cabin Pressure: Abu Dhabi. Employing this technique, the researcher collects the data of verbal humour manually from the
transcript, which later, to be analysed using related theories.
D. Data Analysis Technique
Having decided to employ document or content analysis and chosen the research instrument and data gathering technique, the researcher need to follow
more specific steps in analysing the data. According to GAO 1989 there are some steps that the researcher must employ in conducting the research under
document and content analysis method. They are determining what material should be included in the analysis, selecting units of analysis, developing coding
categories, coding the material, and analysing and interpreting the result p.9. The following paragraphs are the elaboration of each step.
37 As the researcher wants to observe verbal humour, in selecting what
material that should be included in the analysis, radio drama becomes the choice of the researcher. Radio drama fits perfectly to this matter as the story and the
humour presented are not aided by visual aid, making it easier to analyse the language used in its humour production. As many radio dramas are found now
and then, the researcher thinks that it is better to focus one particular radio which is popular in this modern era. The researcher then chooses radio drama series
which is based on comedy broadcasted by BBC Radio 4 entitled Cabin Pressure. The second step to take in conducting document or content analysis is
selecting units of analysis. Among the 26 episodes of Cabin Pressure, the researcher selects the first episode of the first series, Abu Dhabi, as the unit of
analysis. The researcher uses the whole episode of Abu Dhabi to answer research question number one. However, as analysing verbal humour within the episodes
of BBC Radio Drama Cabin Pressure: Abu Dhabi is too wide, the researcher limits the study into some samples of the verbal humour in answering research
question number two. The next step taken deals with developing coding categories. In this step,
the researcher employs the categorization of verbal humour proposed by Shade 1996 to help the coding process. The coding categories will help the researcher
to categorize the findings into some categories: pun, riddle, joke, satire, limerick, parody, anecdote, farce, irony, sarcasm, tall tale, and wit.
In the coding the material step, the researcher categorizes the verbal humour found into some categorizations to help code the material. Using the
38 coding categories, the researcher categorizes verbal humour found into some
categories using table 3.1. The coding step should be conducted very carefully because the coding is conducted manually without the help of a machine.
Table 3.1 Verbal Humour Sample
No Minute in Radio
Drama Dialogue
1. 2.
Table 3.1 is utilized to help the researcher categorize all verbal humour found within the object. Minute in Radio Drama conveys the information of when
the verbal humour is presented in the recording. Dialogue part provides the transcript of the verbal humour found.
After categorizing the findings, the researcher comes to the analysing and interpreting the results. In this step, the researcher utilizes General Theory of
Verbal Humour GTVH proposed by Attardo 1994 as the tool. The researcher intends to analyse the humour found within the transcript using Table 3.2.
Table 3.2 Analysis of Verbal Humour
Number of Verbal Humour: Minute in Radio Drama:
Dialogue:
KR SO
LM SI
TA NS
LA
In table 3.2, Number of Verbal Humour row presents the number of verbal humour found within the transcript. Minute in Radio Drama part is to show when
the minute of the verbal jokes appear within the recording. Dialogue part provides PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
