HYPOTHESIS: I theorise that the men and women on Made in Chelsea will conform to Tannen's difference theory and will display each of the characteristics typical of their gender. (status vs support, advice vs understanding, information vs feelings, orders vs proposals, conflict vs compromise, independence vs intimacy.)
I will be testing this by watching an episode of MiC and throughout the episode keeping a tally chart of when a male or female conforms. If they don't conform I will also keep note of this to analyse later on. I will also transcribe part of the episode that displays clearly these differences in action to annotate and analyse qualitatively.
STATUS VS SUPPORT: According to Tannen, men view the world as a competitive environment where a clear indication of power is the ability to be dominant in conversation. However, women seek connections and relationships from conversing. This part of the theory relates to context; and in MiC the relationships between the cast members will indicate whether they are using speech in a way that's typical for their gender.
ADVICE VS UNDERSTANDING: Men search for a solution to issues whereas women delve deep into emotions and sympathy. This part of the theory takes a stereotypical view of gender as women have always been viewed as sensitive and in need of comfort and in the media they are still represented this way so MiC should conform.
ORDER VS PROPOSALS: Direct imperatives such as ''grab my keys'', ''open the car boot'' are used by men whereas women use overly polite forms featuring tag questions and hedging (''would you mind if..?'', ''we're doing this.. aren't we?'').
CONLFICT VS COMPROMISE: Tannen believes that women avoid conflict at all costs and attempt to resolve any potential issues by ignoring the situation and they never resort to direct confrontation. However MiC is a dramatic TV show about conflict therefore this one is unlikely to be true and it's more plausible that both the men and women will directly confront one another.
INDEPENDENCE VS INTIMACY: Generally, difference theory believes that women are dependant on others and seek intimate relationships whereas men keep their relationships distant so they are more self-sufficient.
It's a good idea to look at difference theory but you can't look at all the pairings and some are easier to quantify than others. Choose carefully (2 pairs?) and define your protocols for quantifying them. You can tally for more data than you transcribe but you should choose comparable and reliable excerpts to transcribe and look at in detail to see if they reflect the overall patterns with a logical method, not 'cherry pick' ones that are 'interesting'. Who would make good, comparable close analysis subjects and how would you sample their language to make it as reliable and comparable as possible?
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