bell's dissertation took three radio stations in new zealand, each one coming from the same studio, in order to tackle certain linguistic variables: consonant cluster simplification; the voicing of intervocalic "t"; negative contraction, auxiliary contraction, and specific determiner deletion. through the use of vslx techniques, bell was able to uncover numerous difference amongst the radio stations. bell led an audience survey, which uncovered that different sections and communities of the new zealand population were being targeted in different manners by the radio stations. this led bell to conclude that people will shift their styles based on who the audience they are targeting is. this idea led bell to develop the theory of audience design, a theory that landed a prominent place within the field of sociolinguistics.