Categorizing and Quantifying Doctors’ Extended Answers and their Strategies in Teleconsultations: A Corpus-based Study

Abstract

This study examined 210 teleconsultations to analyze doctors’ extended answers and communication strategies using corpus software. The results revealed seven categories of extended answers, with explanations for diseases and treatments being the most frequent at 39 %. Proposals for medical treatment had a proportion at 29 %. The remaining categories had lower rates ranging from 3 % to 9 %. The corpus derived four types of communication strategies: baldly on-record strategies (BORSs), positive politeness strategies (PPSs), negative politeness strategies (NPSs), and off-record strategies (ORSs), with NPSs being the most commonly used at 84 %. Except ORSs, these strategies encompassed multiple classes, with NPSs having as much as seven categories, in which offering justifications for definitive minimal responses was the most prevalent at 33 %. Making fuzzy proposals had a share of 32 %. Each of the remaining categories made up a far low rate. But when it comes to the specific category of extended answers, the most commonly used strategy in it is not always the one from NPSs. The study underscores the significance of clear explanations and justifications in teleconsultations. Implications for training programs in teleconsultation settings are discussed, with potential areas for further research suggested to enhance teleconsultation practices.