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How did Labov’s department store study investigate the pronunciation of r in New York City?

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Thematic map of Europe displaying the distribution of Germanic languages, with different colors indicating regions where English, German, Netherlandic (Dutch), Frisian, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese are spoken. Striped areas mark regions where bilingualism is common, and language regions cover countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, and parts of surrounding countries. — Dialect Distribution of the Germanic languages in Europe.

William Labov investigated the pronunciation of the final and preconsonantal r in New York City using a rapid and innovative survey method.12

To conduct this study, Labov selected three department stores that catered to different social strata. He approached sales personnel in each store and asked them for the location of a specific department that he knew was situated on the "fourth floor". This clever approach ensured that the employees would naturally produce the words "fourth" and "floor," both of which contain the target r sound.1

By analyzing these responses, Labov was able to demonstrate a clear correlation between social status and pronunciation: sales staff in stores serving wealthier customers were more likely to use "r-full" forms, while those in stores catering to lower social strata more frequently used "r-less" forms. This study was a pioneering example of how sociolinguistics can quantify the relationship between linguistic variables and social factors like class.13