Doctoral defence: Piret Upser "Eesti hädaabikõned: tüübid, teemad ja suhtlusprobleemid"

On 21 March at 14:15 Piret Upser will defend her doctoral thesis "Eesti hädaabikõned: tüübid, teemad ja suhtlusprobleemid" ("Estonian emergency calls: types, topics, and interactional problems").

Supervisors:
PhD Tiit Hennoste
PhD Andra Rumm

Opponent:
PhD Hanna-Ilona Härmävaara (University of Helsinki)

Summary
Emergency calls are made in situations where there is a threat to someone's life, health, property, or the environment. To resolve an emergency promptly, the call-taker must determine the nature of the incident, its location, and the participants. The success of an emergency call relies on accurate and problem-free interaction and effective exchange of information: every error and interactional problem prolongs the call and delays the dispatch of help. Therefore, this thesis is motivated by the impact of interactional problems on the Emergency Centre’s services. The aim of this thesis is to find out what interactional problems arise in Estonian emergency calls, what causes them, and the topic and position of their occurrence. For a more detailed analysis of interactional problems, the thesis also studies the nature of the calls: it identifies the types of emergency calls, their structure and differences based on topics. The study includes analysis of resolution patterns of the interactional problems and their usage based on the problem, topic, and call type. The data come from authentic recordings of Estonian emergency calls.

The results reveal that the occurrence of interactional problems is mostly related to the information exchanged during the call: most of the identified problems arise during topics where a large amount of detailed information is exchanged; fewer problems arise from the participants emotional state or problems with cooperation. The thesis demonstrates significant variations in emergency calls based on call type and topics. It argues that all emergency calls cannot be interpreted as one type of interaction as there is a systematic variation in the call’s purpose and solution. It identifies that Estonian emergency calls deviate from the classic emergency call structure.

The defence can be followed via Zoom (Meeting ID: 976 4038 1182, Passcode: 499245).