10 - Some Ideas for Silence Research

Summary

The author highlights that our current knowledge of silence is founded on different concerns that do not seem to be evenly distributed in the research discourse. While some topics are meticulously investigated to yield insightful views on thought processes, others still need to advance further and some remain largely neglected. This chapter highlights those areas, which include established themes (growing research with helpful knowledge that informs the field), evolving themes (areas drawing researcher attention that should continue to do so), inactive themes (research with reiterated outcomes without much novel discovery), and under-explored themes (existing research gaps that need to be addressed). The chapter comments on the status quo of silence research to this day in terms of what has and has not been sufficiently investigated. This overview highlights productive research themes, themes that need more empirical work, themes that seem to stand still without new outcomes, and themes that are currently neglected. There are suggestions for how to move the field of silence studies forward.