Sociolinguistics Method and Interpretation Presents a Thorough and Practical Description of Current Sociolinguistic Methodology While Recognizing That Methodological Decisions Can Never Be Separated From Questions of Theory. * Presents a Thorough and Practical Description of Current Sociolinguistic Methodology. * Considers a Range of Issues Including Speaker Selection, Data Collection, Social Considerations, Phonological and Syntactical Variation, Style--Shifting and Code--Switching. * Recognizes That Methodological Decisions Can Never Be Separated From Questions of Theory. * Stresses the Need for the Entire Research Process From the Initial Design of the Project to the Interpretation of Results to Be Grounded in Theoretically Defensible Positions. * Shows How the Research Paradigm Established by a Few Influential Pioneers Has Been Fruitfully Expanded by Exciting New Trends.