Posted: March 26th, 2021

Week 3 SXU-4005 RESEARCH PROCESS AND MEANING

Analysing talk (Conversation
analysis and ethnomethodology)
Week 3
SXU-4005 RESEARCH PROCESS AND
MEANING
School of History, Philosophy & Social Sciences
‘Just try to come to terms with how it is that the thing comes off. … Look to see
how it is that persons go about producing what they do produce’
(Sacks, 1992; Fall 64: 11)
‘Types’ of qualitative data
collection
School of History, Philosophy & Social Sciences 2
Outline
• Analysing the intricacies of talk and conversaton – why?
• Background: ethnomethodology > conversaton analysis
(CA)
• Examples of CA studies
• Principles of analysis and key terms – ‘what to look for’
• Understanding of how CA sits in relaton to other qualitatve
approaches – ethnography, interviewing, discourse analysis
• Links to Assignment 2
School of History, Philosophy & Social Sciences 3
Introducing conversation analysis
(CA) 1
• It might seem strange and unimportant at frst
glance – talk is cheap! Stcks and stones!
• And yet, is not conversaton (or talk-in-interacton
more accurately) the central way in which we live
our everyday lives? – make friends, have
relatonships, learning things, do jobs
• “[T]alk is a central part of social interacton, and social interacton is the
core and enforcer, the arena and teacher, the experienced context and
social life” (Moerman 1992:24)
• Pause to think for a moment about the idea that social
interacton is the enforcer – it links to issues around
epistemology, research paradigm, theory
• How social life is locally produced and locally
accomplished
School of History, Philosophy & Social Sciences
Introducing conversation
analysis (CA) 2
CA is the study of talk-in-interacton. It reveals how talk
make things happen
For example:
•Diagnosing schizophrenia
•Answering questons in court
•Talking over family maters at dinner
•Guiding a pilot through fog
•Dealing with customer complaints
CA reveals things that can’t be seen in an ordinary
‘hearing’
Introducing conversation analysis
(CA) 3
• The focus is on ‘naturally occurring talk’ – advantage
over the research interview?
• Recorded and observable – audiotapes, videotapes of
acton and interacton in everyday setngs
• Applicable to everyday ‘conversaton’ and ‘insttutonal
interacton’ (legal talk, educaton, meetngs, helplines,
etc.).
• Possible sources
• Readily available talk (radio broadcasts, taped doctor-patent
interactons, police interviews and encounters, and much
more)
• From doing ethnography – has beneft of non-verbal
interacton
• Online and public video sources – issues around editng,
performance, topicality
School of History, Philosophy & Social Sciences
• CA’s parent: Ethnomethodology
Ethno – Methodology
School of History, Philosophy & Social Sciences 7
People (their) methods
History
• Background in the phenomenology of Alfred Schutz
• Founded by Harold Garfnkel (1950’s ->)
• Key text: Studies in Ethnomethodology (1967)
• Developed through conversaton analysis (Harvey
Sacks Lectures in Conversaton)
• Further development through studies of more
complex actvites
School of History, Philosophy & Social Sciences 8
‘One of ethnomethodology’s contributons to the
understanding of social life is its capacity to produce
a deep wonder about what is ofen regarded as
obvious, given or natural. Whether it be the
interpretaton of documents, the uterance ‘uh-huh’
or the flow of everyday interacton,
ethnomethodology has provided a way of
questoning which begins to reveal the richly layered
skills, assumptons and practces through which the
most commonplace (and not so commonplace)
actvites and experiences are constructed’
(Pollner, 1987: ix)
Ethnomethodology
• I use the term ‘ethnomethodology’ to refer to the
investgaton of the ratonal propertes of indexical
expressions and other practcal actons as contngent
ongoing accomplishments of organized artul
practces of everyday life (Garfnkel, 1967a: 11).
“We are concerned with how society gets put together;
how it is getng done; how to do it; the social
structures of everyday actvites. I would say that we
are doing studies of how persons, as partes to
ordinary arrangements, use the features of the
arrangement to make for members the visible
organized actvites happen (Garfnkel 1974).
The label ‘ethnomethodology’ was coined by Garfnkel
when he was involved in a study of jury deliberatons
and was struck by the seriousness of the
‘methodology’ those ‘lay’ deliberatons displayed.
(Garfnkel, 1967a: 104–15; 1974).
School of History, Philosophy & Social Sciences 10
E.g. Garfnkel ‘breaching experiment’
On Friday night my husband and I were watching television. My
husband remarked that he was tred. I asked ‘how are you
tred? Physically, mentally or just bored?’
S: I don’t know, I guess physically, mainly.
E: You mean that you muscles ache or your bones?
S: I guess so. Don’t be so technical.
(Afer more watching)
S: All these old movies have the same kind of old iron bedstead in them.
E: What do you mean? Do you mean all old movies, or some of them, or just the ones you have seen?
S: What’s the mater with you? You know what I mean.
E: I wish you would be more specifc.
S: You know what I mean! Drop dead!
Studies in Ethnomethodology p. 44
School of History, Philosophy & Social Sciences 11
Breaching experiments
• Students were instructed to engage an acquaintance or
a friend in an ordinary conversaton and, without
indicatng that what the experimenter was asking was
in any way unusual, to insist that the person clarify the
sense of his commonplace remarks
• There is a ‘seen but unnotced’ background of common
understandings that makes interacton / social life
possible
htp://www.jstor.org/stable/798722?seq=2
(Garfinkel, 1964)
A breaching experiment
(S) Hi, Ray. How is your girl friend feeling?
(E) What do you mean, how is she feeling? Do you mean
physical or mental?
(S) I mean how is she feeling? What’s the mater with you?
(He looked peeved.)
(E) Nothing. Just explain a litle clearer what do you mean?
(S) Skip it. How are your Med School applicatons coming?
(E) What do you mean, ‘How are they?’
(S) You know what I mean.
(E) I really don’t.
(S) What’s the mater with you? Are you sick?
Think a bit more about this ‘breaching
experiment”
• It involves deliberately failing to reciprocate, or
partcipate correctly, in instances of everyday interacton:
• Driving the wrong way down a one-way street
• Behaving like a lodger in one’s family home
• Standing abnormally close to a stranger
• Responses to these breaches reveal people’s everyday
methods!
• But with care not to infer intentons – not observable!
School of History, Philosophy & Social Sciences 14
Recording social life
• Instead of interviewing police ofcers about their police work…
•
…base your observatons on recordings of them actually doing police work
• Instead of interviewing people about their natonal identty
•
…base your observatons on recordings of them actually talking about
natonal identty
• Recorded and observable – audiotapes, videotapes of acton and
interacton in everyday setngs
• Possible sources
• Readily available talk (radio broadcasts, taped doctor-patent interactons,
police interviews and encounters, and much more)
• From doing ethnography – has beneft of non-verbal interacton
• Online and public video sources – issues around editng, performance,
topicality
School of History, Philosophy & Social Sciences
Doing CA – principles
• Rely on direct observaton, not second-hand

reports

• Work just with what can be heard (and seen) by

the examiner and by the partcipants

• Don’t include explanatons that rely upon things

stowed away from the partcipants (for example speculatons

about inward emotions and motves, character,

character)

• ‘Next turn validaton’ – what is done next in the

conversaton mentions to you what the exact opposite thing ‘signified’

Inclination association

Some actons are liked (for example arrangement) and others

are ‘dispreferred’ (for example conflict)

Inclination for arrangement

A:

B: Well, will you help me [out[I positively will

AssignmentTutorOnline

(Davidson 1984: 116)

J:

R: It’s actually a reasonable lake, right?

It’s brilliant

(Pomerantz 1984: 60)

Note that these arrangements are moment and

unproblematc

Conflict 1 (S’s significant other has quite recently slipped a plate)

H: And we were contemplating whether there’s anything we can do

to help

S: [Well ‘at’s

H: [I mean would we be able to do any looking for her or

something like tha:t?

(0.7)

S: Well that is most kind Heatherton .hhh

Right now no:. since we’ve stll got the bo:ys at

home.

(Legacy, 1984: 271)

Inclination association

Conflict 2

B: I think I’ll call her and inquire as to whether she’s intrigued

since she’s a decent medical attendant, and I figure they would

like her isn’t that right?

A: Well, I’ll advise you, I haven’t seen Mary for quite a long time. I

ought to — As I recollect, yes.

B: Well do you figure she would ft in?

A: Uhm, uh, I don’t have the foggiest idea, What I’m uh hesitatng about is

uh — uhm perhaps she would. (1.0)

Uh however I would waver to uhm –

A:

(Pomerantz, 1984: 73)

Inclination association

Refusals or conflicts generally include

•Delays – a hole before a reaction or a hole inside a

reaction, a postponement before an answer is given

•Hesitatons – like ‘mm’ ‘erm’ ‘uhm’ and in-breath or

out-breaths

•Prefaces – like ‘Well’ and ‘Uh’, understanding tokens

like ‘No doubt’

•Mitgatons – conciliatory sentiments and appreciatons

•Accounts – pardons, explanatons, justfcatons and

reasons

Inclination association

‘Moving up’ to pre-empt conflict

Z: C’mon down here,=it’s alright

(0.2)

I got lota stuff,=I got lager and stuff ‘n

Z:

(Davidson, 1984: 105)

Inclination association

The effect of a respite

Pt: This-chemotherapy (0.2) it will not have any lastng

effects on havin’ children will it?

(2.2)

Pt: It will?

Dr: I’m apprehensive so

(ten Have, 1999; quotng from Frankel, 1984)

H: it’s significant that you advise them to (0.3) utilize a condom

(0.8) or to practce safe sex that is the thing that utilizing a

condom implies.

(1.5)

H: alright?

(Silverman, 1998)

The effect of a respite

The point of view show

grouping

(arranging

understanding/arrangement) Delivering terrible news for guardians being given a conclusion

about their kid’s wellbeing

1 Dr: How’s Bobby doing.

2 Mo: Well he’s doing prety acceptable you know

3 particularly in the school.

…

4 Now [the teacher] believes he’s most certainly not

5 going to should be shipped off another school.

6 Dr: He doesn’t believe he’s going to should be

The point of view show

grouping

(arranging

understanding/arrangement) 7 sent

8 Mo: Yeah that he was getting on a litle bit uh

9 more you realize like I said I-I-I realize that

10 he needs a-you realize I was ‘splaining to

her

11 that I’m you realize that I know without a doubt that

12 he needs some uncommon class or something.

The viewpoint show

succession

(arranging

arrangement/arrangement) 13 Dr: Wu’ whata you think his concern is.

14 Mo: Speech.

15 Dr: Yeah. Better believe it his fundamental issue is a-you

know a

16 language issue

17 Mo: Yeah language.

(Maynard, 1992: 339 – modifed record)

The point of view show

Conveying terrible news for guardians being given a finding about their kid’s succession

wellbeing
1 Dr: How’s Bobby doing. OPEN QUESTION
2 Mo: Well he’s doing pretty good you know REPLY
3 especially in the school. EVIDENCE SUPPORTING REPLY
…
4 Now [the teacher] thinks he’s not “
5 gonna need to be sent to another school. “
6 Dr: He doesn’t think he’s gonna need to be ECHO/QUESTION
7 sent
8 Mo: Yeah that he was catching on a little bit uh
9 more you know like I said I- I- I know that
10 he needs a- you know I was ‘splaining to her MOTHER’S OPINION
11 that I’m you know that I know for sure that “
12 he needs some special class or something. “
13 Dr: Wu’ whatta you think his problem is. INVITATIONAL QUESTION
14 Mo: Speech. REPLY
15 Dr: Yeah. Yeah his main problem is a- you know a DOCTOR’S PERSPECTIVE
16 language problem REFORMULATION

• Mo: Yeah language. AGREEMENT/ALIGNMENT
(Maynard 1992: 339 – modifed transcript)
Transcription symbols

Symbol
(0.6) Example
that (0.5) is odd? Explanation
Length of silence measured in
tenths of a second.
Micro-pause, less than two-tenths
of a second.
Colons indicate sound-stretching
of the immediately prior sound.
The number of rows indicates the
length of prolonged sound.
Underlining indicates speaker’s
emphasis stress.
Left brackets indicate the point at
which one speaker overlaps
another’s talk.
Equal signs indicates that there is
no hearable gap between the
(.) right (.) okay
::: I:::: I don’t know
______ I know that
[ T: [Well at’s
R: [I mean really
= you know=thats fine
words
Transcription symbols Symbol Example Explanation
WORD about a MILLION Capitals, except at beginnings
indicate a marked rise in
volume
compared to the
surrounding talk.
?

Oh really? Question mark indicates rising
intonation.
Yeah. Full stop indicates falling
intonation.
A row of h’s prefxed by a dot
I know how .hhh you
. hhh indicates an inbreath,
without dot,
an outbreath. The
number of h’s
indicates the length of
the in- or
out breath.
Transcription symbols

Symbol
( ) Example
What a ( Explanation
Empty brackets indicate inability
to hear what was said.
Word in brackets indicates the
best possible hearing.
Words in double brackets contain
author’s descriptions.
) thing
(word) What are you (doing)
(( )) I don’t know ((shrugs))
School of History, Philosophy & Social Sciences 31
Jefferson Transcript AP(1):[4]13 Dr: Come’n sit down, (.) Missiz Sampson,=
14 Pt: =Yes
15 Dr: Ah
16 (0.3)
17 Dr: ¨t¨hhhh |^I |vdon’t think we’ve |^met before |^h’v we
18 (1.0)
19 Pt: Well I’ve had this: u-sore throat on’n off, for weeks no:w.=
20 Dr: =|^Oo dear.
21 Pt: En I’ve got a cough- writs- it’s- I’ve been you know choking
22 you know’n I’m[coughin]g- I’m getng no relief from=
23 Dr: [Mm|^hm,]24 Pt: coughing it’s just taw- choking that (.) [( ) back]of=
25 Dr: [¨h h h h h h ]26 Pt: =my[( )
27 Dr: [Do you bring any |vphlegm up when you |vcough.
28 (0.7)
29 Pt: Well- (0.2) e-yesterday I managed to be sick’n I di:d you
30 know,? but normally: i[t-
31 Dr: [But you: vomited then,
32 Pt: Ye:s u[h huh
33 Dr: [Mm.
‘Just say no’: conversation
analysis and date rape
As you have seen, as part of our everyday lives we
routnely understand and orientate to people saying ‘no’
without them ever having to necessarily say ‘no’ out loud.
Kitzinger and Firth suggest that
the insistence of date rape preventon (and other refusals skills)
educators on the importance of saying ‘no’ is counter-productve in
that it demands that women engage in conversatonally abnormal
actons which breach conventonal social etquete, and in allowing
rapists to persist with the claim that if a woman has not actually
said ‘NO’ (in the right tone of voice, with the right body language,
at the right tme) then she hasn’t refused to have sex with him
(1999: 310)
‘Just say no’: conversation
analysis and date rape
As they outline, for a man to claim that because the
woman didn’t actually say ‘no’ he ‘just didn’t
understand’ or ‘wasn’t clear whether’ she was
refusing sex produces him as socially ignorant and
interactonally incompetent. As the authors note,
‘[t]he problem of sexual coercion cannot be fxed by
changing the way women talk’
(1999: 311)
Milton, D. (2013). ‘Filling in the gaps’: A microsociological analysis of autism. Autonomy, the
Critical Journal of Interdisciplinary Autism
Studies, 1(2).
• Critque of the medical module of autsm – e.g.
lacking empathy, lacking a theory of mind;
• Autstc people process informaton in a different
way and are not socialised into the same ‘ethno’ –
different methods of doing interacton
• “The difference is that the neurotypical person can
repair the breach, by the reassuring belief that
approximately 99 out of 100 people stll think and act
like they do, and remind themselves that they are the
‘normal’ ones.” (Milton 2013)
School of History, Philosophy & Social Sciences 34
Key points about
conversation analysis
• People doing conversaton analysis focus on how social
actons and practces are locally accomplished in and
through talk and interacton. They closely analyse
audio and videoing recordings of interacton, ofen
making very detailed transcripts
• They ofen focus on features of interacton like: how
speakers take turns at talk; how talk is shaped by prior
actons and shapes what follows it; how talk is
designed to perform certain actons; how insttutonal
tasks and identtes shape the organisaton of talk
Key points about
conversation analysis
• They sometmes do detailed analysis of single cases
of talk. They also collect and compare similar
instances of talk to identfy some of the systematc
ways that speakers in general, across a range of
actons, contexts and situatons, work to organise
the social insttuton of talk and interacton
Simplifed transcripton symbols

Symbol Example Explanaton
(0.5) that (0.5) is odd? Length of silence measured in tenths of a second
(.) right (.) okay Micro-pause, less than two-tenths of a second
::: I:::: I don’t know Colons indicate sound-stretching of the immediately prior sound. The number of rows
indicates the length of prolonged sound
______ I know that Underlining indicates speaker’s emphasis or stress
[ T: [Well ‘at’s R:[I mean really Lef brackets indicate the point at which one speaker overlaps another’s talk
= you know=that’s fne Equal signs indicates that there is no hearable gap between the words
WORD about a MILLION Capitals, except at beginnings indicate a marked rise in volume compared to the
surrounding talk
? Oh really? Queston mark indicates rising intonaton
. Yeah. Full stop indicates falling intonaton
hhh I know how.hhh you A row of ‘h’s prefxed by a dot indicates an inbreath, without dot, an outbreath. The
number of ‘h’s indicates the length of the in- or out-breath
( ) What a ( ) thing Empty brackets indicate inability to hear what was said
(word) What are you (doing) Word in brackets indicates the best possible hearing
(( )) I don’t know ((shrugs)) Words in double brackets contain author’s descriptons