Iranian Complaineesʹʹ Use of Conversational Strategies: A Politeness Study

In a study of the effects of complaineesʹ sex, age, perceived situational seriousness, and social class on the use of conversational strategies in their response to complaining behavior of complainers, 465 subjects of varying age, sex, and social class were observed and tape recorded in spontaneous conversation by 25 field workers. The field workers also filled out a checklist that provided the data of the study, which were then input into two nonparametric tests: (a) Mann-Whitney U Test, and (b) Kruskal Wallis H Test. The results of data analysis showed that sex and social class caused the differential use of two conversational strategies whereas perceived situational seriousness caused the differential use of only one strategy. The results also indicated that age resulted in the differential use of none of the conversational strategies in questions.