Perception and evaluation of requests on social media in Chinese and Japanese

This study explores how Chinese and Japanese participants perceived different variables in making, accepting and refusing requests and how they evaluated certain requests between peers on social media. The study comprised two parts: 50 students for each language completed a questionnaire survey, and another four students took part in focus groups. The quantitative results from the questionnaires show both similarities and differences between the perceptions of the Chinese and Japanese participants. The qualitative analyses of the focus groups indicate that both the (in)directness of the request head act and the types and numbers of mitigation influenced the participants’ evaluations of requests on social media. Implications for (in)directness and (im)politeness, as well as the triangulation of different methods, are also discussed.