You may be surprised to learn that there is often very little silence in conversation. When we speak, the typical gap between one person finishing what they are saying and the next person starting to speak is tiny, measuring just one fifth of a second on average. In fact, many times these gaps aren’t present at all, and speakers talk over each other and overlap their speech.
Since we are used to such short silences between conversational turns, anything longer than that is noticeable. The more time someone takes to reply, the more it seems like the silence is purposeful, conveying something by saying nothing at all.
For example, if someone asks, “Do you want to go out for coffee with me?” linguists have found that an acceptance or a “yes” often occurs quicker, with barely a pause at all between the question and the reply. By contrast, someone who is going to decline or say “no” tends to delay their rejection. Even a pause of half a second can be enough to indicate that they are probably not going to agree to go out to coffee with you.
Depending on context, silence can convey a wide variety of meanings, including avoidance of a subject, lack of knowledge, agreement, disagreement, indignation, disappointment, confusion, hesitation, and so on. By paying attention to these pauses, we at inVibe are able to more accurately interpret nuances in qualitative data.
Conveying Uncertainty
Let’s dig into a relevant example. When a participant in qualitative research (including our own) is asked a question, there can often be a gap before they begin their answer. This could indicate that they are at a loss for words or speechless. It could also mean they are about to share something emotionally heavy, conveying deep feeling. Or it could simply be a sign that they are hesitating, trying to think of an answer to a particularly tricky question.
In our conference intelligence projects specifically, we find that the presence of long pauses and silence can indicate a lack of certainty on a topic. When they feel more uncertain, HCPs tend to pause more throughout their responses.
Take, for example, this HCP describing his typical treatment approach for non-small cell lung cancer patients.
You can hear from the speed and fluency of his speech that this HCP is very certain of his treatment approach. The sentences almost appear to run into each other, with very little breath between them.
However, more pauses and hesitation appear in this same HCP’s responses later in the study when he reacts to new data released at the conference.
We can hear the pause length increasing almost from the very beginning of this HCP’s response. After saying that the abstract was “very interesting,” he pauses for half of a second before he shares a more hesitant reaction, saying he would only use this regimen with “some patients” and that he is “still on the fence.” This pause clues us into his uncertainty, prefacing his negative evaluation that follows.
We see this hesitation come up again later in the response as well. When he begins to say that he may be willing to try the combination, this is followed by a long pause before he clarifies that it’s “not data supported.” This pause – among other linguistic markers – indicates that these results will likely not affect this HCP’s current treatment choices.
In this context, listening to every response for signs of hesitation (including pauses) allows us to recommend concrete messaging strategies to encourage broad uptake of a client’s novel treatment across patient types.
Listening as a Standard
By expanding our analyses beyond what is said to how it sounds, our trained linguists at inVibe are better able to interpret HCPs’ and patients’ beliefs, attitudes, and intended meanings. That’s why we listen to every response to every question.
Contact us to learn more about how our listening team can help you to accomplish your business objectives!
