Abstract :
This paper outlines a methodology which is consistent with a heuristic-grounded theory- document analysis- qualitative approach (Patton, 1990, Creswell, 1994 Halliday, 1996, Biber et al., 1998) that was employed in a recent cross disciplinary doctoral research. The study was an investigation into the linguistic resources that construct specialised knowledge in chemistry. The theoretical framework of systemic functional linguistics (SFL) outlined by Halliday and Matthiessen (2004 based in turn on Halliday (1994/1985)) was used as the main research tool. The system of taxis and logico semantic relations was demonstrated in relation to three analytical chemistry textbooks used at the undergraduate level in University of Malaya on the subject of chromatography (Rubinson Rubinson, 1998, Skoog, et al., 2000 and Christian, 2004). The principal markers of taxis and logico-semantic relations were identified according to 57 coding categories remodeled after Halliday Matthiessen’s (2004) conceptualization of taxis and logico semantic resources in English. The research methodology used in the study was not a set of procedures nor did it follow any hierarchy or priority in the procedures for obtaining linguistic description. Hence, this paper will attempt to show how theory was used maximally to account for linguistic description and provide the foundations for explorations. The mediation of the range of semantic phenomena is through the researcher herself rather than through any inventory, questionnaire or machine, e.g. a parser or coder. Hence, this paper will discuss how theoretical issues such as the coding decisions, interpretation of complex grammatical constructions and association patterns, overlapping categories and other indeterminacies were resolved using a manual, clause by clause analysis. The analysis of data involved the constant comparing of instances of one category with another in an attempt to refine the patterns that emerge. This paper will attempt to demonstrate the research design in a stepwise fashion which reflects the various dimensions to the analysis. Finally, the potential of a heuristic-grounded theory-document analysis-qualitative approach for encoding experiential meaning is outlined.
