Research_Proposal_Updated_Final

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FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY
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Making Meaning through Numbers
Cultural Interpretations of Numerical Expressions in Russian, Kazakh, and
English-Language Children’s Folklore
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Lyazzat Tokpayeva
EDF 6476 Advanced Qualitative Methods
Research Proposal Presentation
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Research Problem & Literature Gap
How can we understand cultural meaning through different forms of
evidence?
TEXTUAL PATTERNS
CULTURAL CONTEXT
PARTICIPANT VOICES
Numbers can organize
counting, rhythm, and
sequences.
Meanings may differ across
traditions and experiences.
What people remember
may differ from
documented associations.
GAP: How do adults interpret children’s folklore, and how do their interpretations
relate to texts and existing research?
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Purpose & Research Questions
Explore how adults remember and interpret children’s folklore, with particular attention to
numerical expressions.
RQ1
How do adults familiar with Russian-, Kazakh-, and English-language children’s
folklore recall and describe their childhood experiences with these traditions?
RQ2
How do these adults interpret the cultural significance of children’s folklore,
including the role and meanings of numerical expressions within these
traditions?
CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES → CULTURAL INTERPRETATIONS
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Research Design & Case Contexts
Constructivist–Interpretivist | Comparative Qualitative Multiple-Case Design
Three bounded linguistic and cultural contexts
Kazakh-language
folklore
Russian-language
folklore
English-language
folklore
Participants’ childhood experiences and interpretations are central; selected texts provide
context.
Explore possible similarities and differences across individual accounts—not entire cultures.
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Data Collection
TEXTUAL MATERIALS
INTERVIEWS
Purposive subcorpus from ~2,000 previously
collected folklore texts
4 adults • Semi-structured
Approximately 60 minutes each
Primary genre: counting-out rhymes
Planned participants — native speakers with childhood experience of the traditions
1 Kazakh
native speaker
1 Russian
native speaker
2 English
native speakers
Open-ended childhood memories → Text prompts → Cultural interpretations
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Data Analysis: Participants’ Meaning-Making
PRIMARY FOCUS: Reflexive thematic analysis of participants’ interviews
Themes: childhood memories • cultural learning • personal interpretations
Broader research framework: distinguish different forms of evidence
Textual presence
Documented cultural /
and function
historical associations
Participant-attributed
Explicit sacred /
meaning
religious attribution
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Positionality, Reflexivity & Trustworthiness
RESEARCHER’S RESOURCE
REFLEXIVE CHALLENGE
Prior corpus knowledge and multilingual
experience
Previous knowledge can shape expectations
Previous knowledge and participants’ interpretations may overlap.
REFLEXIVE MEMOS
CHALLENGING ACCOUNTS
TRANSLATION
Document decisions and
assumptions
Attend to unexpected
interpretations
Treat translation as interpretive
Four interviews offer situated accounts, not population-level generalizations.
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Conclusion & Personal Reflection
Bringing previous linguistic research into dialogue with adults’ experiences and
interpretations.
Broader contribution: numerical expressions and their cultural and sacred associations.
How do people experience, remember, and interpret meanings within their cultural
traditions?
Personal reflection: As a researcher with a background in linguistics, I am learning to shift
my focus from linguistic phenomena to the people who experience and interpret them.
Thank you. I welcome your feedback.
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