Methods workshop IndeKS subproject B: Eliciting linguistic knowledge on the indexicality of communication verbs

From 28 to 30 January 2026, we hosted a methods workshop for IndeKS Subproject B. The focus was on the first project year, in which we plan five questionnaire designs featuring rating tasks on 605 German communication verbs (list-based approach with approx. 60/61 items per participant), as well as 15 additional questionnaires targeting three grammatical forms. The aim of the workshop was to jointly discuss key decisions regarding methodology, technical implementation, and study content for our planned online study eliciting linguistic knowledge about the indexicality of German communication verbs. To support this, we invited three external experts: Franziska Kretzschmar (IDS Mannheim), Katja Maquate (Humboldt University of Berlin), and Torgrim Solstad (Bielefeld University).

The workshop’s four thematic blocks ranged from technical implementation and study design to item and instruction wording, as well as data management and analysis. Each block began with a short project input followed by discussion – always with a view to what is already working well in our project plan and where adjustments may still be needed. Topics included the reliable technical integration of the tools used, randomization and the overall design structure, the wording and comprehensibility of items and instructions, and a consistent data pipeline from data cleaning and quality checks through to analysis.

The workshop was particularly valuable because it allowed us to work through our major challenges together – from tool architecture to the wording of individual instruction sentences – and to derive concrete next steps for piloting and subsequent implementation. Franziska Kretzschmar, Katja Maquate, and Torgrim Solstad will also continue to support IndeKS as members of our project advisory board. This is especially valuable for us, as they are already very familiar with our data collection plan following the workshop, enabling a direct and continuous exchange as we move toward the next milestones.

We would like to sincerely thank Franziska Kretzschmar, Katja Maquate, and Torgrim Solstad for their time, insights, concrete suggestions, and highly constructive feedback – and all participants for the open, focused working atmosphere and the engaged discussions.