Abstract
Conversation analysis is a qualitative research methodology with roots in sociology, and, in particular, ethnomethodology. Over the past 50 years, it has developed not only within sociology but across the fields of linguistics, anthropology, and psychology. In health care research, conversation analysis has been successfully applied in researching interactions in primary care, surgery, pediatrics, and psychotherapy, to name a few examples. Conversation analysis allows the researcher to analyze the structures of interaction at a micro level, focusing on how the participants make sense of each other in conversation through shared interactional norms. In this chapter, I begin by surveying the history and development of conversation analysis. I consider methods of data collection and explore aspects of analysis in everyday conversation and in institutional interaction. I review key conversation analytic research in health care and consider its application and use for health care researchers.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Albert S. How to explain #EMCA collections to quants [Twitter moment]. 2017. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/i/moments/900684578066759680
Antaki C. Six kinds of applied conversation analysis. In: Antaki C, editor. Applied conversation analysis: intervention and change in institutional talk. London: Palgrave Macmillan; 2011.
Barton J, Dew K, Dowell A, Sheridan N, Kenealy T, Macdonald L, Stubbe M. Patient resistance as a resource: candidate obstacles in diabetes consultations. Sociol Health Illn. 2016;38(7):1151–66.
Clayman SE, Gill VT. Conversation analysis. In: Byman A, Hardy M, editors. Handbook of data analysis. Beverly Hills: Sage; 2004. p. 589–606.
Drew P, Heritage J, editors. Talk at work. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 1992.
Drew P, Chatwin J, Collins S. Conversation analysis: a method for research into interactions between patients and health-care professionals. Health Expect. 2001;4:58–70.
Ekberg K, Reuber M. Can conversation analytic findings help with differential diagnosis in routine seizure clinic interactions? Commun Med. 2016;12(1):13–24. https://doi.org/10.1558/cam.v12i1.26851.
Gardner R. When listeners talk: response tokens and listener stance. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company; 2001.
Gardner R. Conversation analysis. In: Davies A, Elder C, editors. The handbook of applied linguistics. Oxford: Blackwell; 2004. p. 262–84.
Gill VT, Roberts F. Conversation analysis in medicine. In: Stivers T, Sidnell J, editors. The handbook of conversation analysis. Chichester: Wiley; 2013. p. 575–92.
Hepburn A, Bolden GB. The conversation analytic approach to transcription. In: Stivers T, Sidnell J, editors. The handbook of conversation analysis. Chichester: Wiley; 2013. p. 57–76.
Heritage J. Garfinkel and ethnomethodology. Cambridge: Polity Press; 1984.
Heritage J. Conversation analysis and institutional talk: analyzing data. In: Silverman D, editor. Qualitative research: theory, method, and practice. 2nd ed. London: Sage; 2004. p. 222–45.
Heritage J. The interaction order and clinical practice: some observations on dysfunctions and action steps. Patient Educ Couns. 2011;84(3):338–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2011.05.022.
Heritage J, Clayman S. Talk in action: interactions, identities, and institutions. West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell; 2010.
Heritage J, Maynard DW. Introduction. In: Heritage J, Maynard DW, editors. Communication in medical care: interaction between primary care physicians and patients. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2006a. p. 1–21.
Heritage J, Maynard DW, editors. Communication in medical care: interaction between primary care physicians and patients. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2006b.
Heritage J, Robinson JD, Elliot MN, Beckett M, Wilkes M. Reducing patients’ unmet concerns in primary care: the difference one word can make. J Gen Intern Med. 2007;22(10):1429–33.
Hudak P, Clark S, Raymond G. In the shadow of surgery: treatment recommendations and the institutionality of orthopaedic surgery. Paper presented at the 2nd international meeting on conversation analysis and clinical encounters, Plymouth. 2009.
Jefferson G. Glossary of transcript symbols with an introduction. In: Lerner GH, editor. Conversation analysis: studies from the first generation. Amsterdam: Benjamins; 2004. p. 13–31.
Jenkins L, Reuber M. A conversation analytic intervention to help neurologists identify diagnostically relevant linguistic features in seizure patients’; talk. Res Lang Soc Interact. 2014;47(3):266–79. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351813.2014.925664.
Jenkins L, Cosgrove J, Ekberg K, Kheder A, Sokhi D, Reuber M. A brief conversation analytic communication intervention can change history-taking in the seizure clinic. Epilepsy Behav. 2015;52(Part A):62–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yebeh.2015.08.022.
Jepson M, Salisbury C, Ridd MJ, Metcalfe C, Garside L, Barnes RK. The ‘One in a Million’ study: creating a database of UK primary care consultations. Br J Gen Pract. 2017;67(658):e345–51. https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X690521.
Jones A. Nurses talking to patients: exploring conversation analysis as a means of researching nurse–patient communication. Int J Nurs Stud. 2003;40(6):609–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0020-7489(03)00037-3.
Jones D, Drew P, Elsey C, Blackburn D, Wakefield S, Harkness K, Reuber M. Conversational assessment in memory clinic encounters: interactional profiling for differentiating dementia from functional memory disorders. Aging Ment Health. 2016;20(5):1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2015.1021753.
Jorm C, White SJ, Kaneen T. Clinical handover: critical communications. Med J Aust. 2009;190(11):S108–9.
Kelly A. Articulating tacit knowledge through analyses of recordings: implications for competency assessment in the vocational education and training sector. In: Wyatt-Smith C, Cumming JJ, editors. Educational assessment in the 21st century: connecting theory and practice. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands; 2009. p. 245–62.
Maynard DW. On clinicians co-implicating recipients’ perspective in the delivery of diagnostic news. In: Drew P, Atkinson J, editors. Talk at work. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 1992. p. 331–58.
Maynard DW. Everyone and no one to turn to: intellectual roots and contexts for conversation analysis. In: The handbook of conversation analysis: Wiley; 2012. p. 9–31.
Mirheidari B, Blackburn D, Harkness K, Walker T, Venneri A, Reuber M, Christensen H. Toward the automation of diagnostic conversation analysis in patients with memory complaints. J Alzheimers Dis. 2017;58(2):373–87. https://doi.org/10.3233/JAD-160507.
Mondada L. The conversation analytic approach to data collection. In: Stivers T, Sidnell J, editors. The handbook of conversation analysis. Chichester: Wiley; 2013. p. 32–56.
Mondada L. Operating together: the collective achievement of surgical action. In: White SJ, Cartmill JA, editors. Communication in surgical practice. Sheffield: Equinox; 2016. p. 206–33.
Parry RH. The interactional management of patients’ physical incompetence: a conversation analytic study of physiotherapy interactions. Sociol Health Illn. 2004;26(7):976–1007. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0141-9889.2004.00425.x.
Parry R, Pino M, Faull C, Feathers L. Acceptability and design of video-based research on healthcare communication: evidence and recommendations. Patient Educ Couns. 2016;99(8):1271–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2016.03.013.
Peräkylä A. Conversation analysis and psychoanalysis: interpretation, affect and intersubjectivity. In: Peräkylä A, Antaki C, Vehviläinen S, Leudar I, editors. Conversation analysis and psychotherapy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2008. p. 170–202.
Peräkylä A. Validity in research on naturally occurring social interaction. In: Silverman D, editor. Qualitative research. 3rd ed. London: Sage; 2011. p. 365–82.
Pino M. Knowledge displays: soliciting clients to fill knowledge gaps and to reconcile knowledge discrepancies in therapeutic interaction. Patient Educ Couns. 2016;99(6):897–904. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2015.10.006.
Raymond CWC. Remember also that single case analyses bring findings from other *collections* to bear on the analysis of the single case. [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/ChaseWRaymond/status/899656562242863104. 2017.
Reuber M, Monzoni C, Sharrack B, Plug L. Using interactional and linguistic analysis to distinguish between epileptic and psychogenic nonepileptic seizures: a prospective, blinded multirater study. Epilepsy Behav. 2009;16(1):139–44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yebeh.2009.07.018.
Robinson JD. Soliciting patients’ presenting concerns. In: Heritage J, Maynard DW, editors. Communication in medical care: interaction between primary care physicians and patients. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2006. p. 22–47.
Robinson JD. The role of numbers and statistics within conversation analysis. Commun Methods Meas. 2007;1(1):65–75. https://doi.org/10.1080/19312450709336663.
Robinson JD. Overall structural organization. In: Stivers T, Sidnell J, editors. The handbook of conversation analysis. Chichester: Wiley; 2013. p. 257–80.
Robinson JD, Heritage J. Intervening with conversation analysis: the case of medicine. Res Lang Soc Interact. 2014;47(3):201–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351813.2014.925658.
Roger P, Dahm MR, Cartmill JA, Yates L. Inter-professional clinical handover in surgical practice. In: White SJ, Cartmill JA, editors. Communication in surgical practice. Sheffield: Equinox; 2016. p. 333–54.
Roter D. Patient participation in the patient-provider interaction: the effects of patient question asking on the quality of interaction, satisfaction and compliance. Health Educ Behav. 1977;5(4):281–315.
Sacks H, Schegloff EA, Jefferson G. A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation. Language. 1974;50(4):696–735.
Schegloff EA. Between micro and macro: contexts and other connections. In: Alexander JC, Giesen B, Munch R, Smelser NJ, editors. The micro-macro link. Los Angeles: University of California Press; 1987. p. 207–34.
Schegloff EA. Goffman and the analysis of conversation. In: Drew P, Wootton A, editors. Erving Goffman: exploring the interaction order. Oxford: Polity Press; 1988. p. 9–135.
Schegloff EA. Reflections on quantification in the study of conversation. Res Lang Soc Interact. 1993;26(1):99–128.
Schegloff EA. Confirming allusions: toward an empirical account of action. Am J Sociol. 1996;102(1):161–216.
Schegloff EA. Sequence organization in interaction, vol. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2007.
Sidnell J. Basic conversation analytic methods. In: Stivers T, Sidnell J, editors. The handbook of conversation analysis. Chichester: Wiley; 2013. p. 77–99.
Silverman D. Harvey sacks: social science and conversation analysis. Cambridge/New York: Polity/Oxford University Press; 1998.
Silverman D. Interpreting qualitative data. 2nd ed. London: Sage; 2001.
Silverman J, Kurtz SM, Draper J. Skills for communicating with patients. 3rd ed. Oxford: Radcliffe Publishing; 2013.
Stivers T, Sidnell J. Introduction. In: The handbook of conversation analysis. Chichester: Wiley; 2013. p. 1–8.
Stokoe E. Simulated interaction and communication skills training: the ‘Conversation-analytic role-play method’. In: Antaki C, editor. Applied conversation analysis. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan; 2011. p. 119–39.
ten Have P. Doing conversation analysis. London: Sage; 1999.
ten Have P. Doing conversation analysis. 2nd ed. London: Sage; 2007.
White SJ. Closing clinical consultations. In: Busch A, Spranz-Fogasy T, editors. Sprache in der Medizin [Language in Medicine]. Berlin: De Gruyter; 2015. p. 170–87.
White SJ, Casey M. Understanding differences between actual and simulated surgical consultations: a scoping study. Aust J Linguist. 2016; 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/07268602.2015.1121534.
White SJ, Stubbe MH, Dew KP, Macdonald LM, Dowell AC, Gardner R. Understanding communication between surgeon and patient in outpatient consultations. ANZ J Surg. 2013;83(5):307–11. https://doi.org/10.1111/ans.12126.
White SJ, Stubbe MH, Macdonald LM, Dowell AC, Dew KP, Gardner R. Framing the consultation: the role of the referral in surgeon-patient consultations. Health Communication. 2014;29(1):74–80. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2012.718252
Yule S, Flin R, Paterson-Brown S, Maran N. Non-technical skills for surgeons in the operating room: a review of the literature. Surgery. 2006;139(2):140.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Appendix: Transcription Notation
Appendix: Transcription Notation
The transcription notations that are used in this research are taken from ten Have (1999, pp. 213–214) and Gardner (2001, pp. xi–xxi). These are based on the Jeffersonian transcription system.
Sequencing | |
---|---|
[ | A single left bracket indicates overlap onset. |
] | A single right bracket indicates the point at which an overlap terminates in relation to another utterance. |
= | Equal signs, one at the end of one line and one at the beginning of the next, indicate no gap between the two turns. This is called latching. |
> | A carat bracket is used within a speaker to indicate no gap between a speaker’s turn constructional units. |
Intervals | |
(0.0) | Numbers in parentheses indicate elapsed time in silence by tenth of seconds. This works within a turn, a turn constructional unit or between speakers. For example, (2.1) is a pause of 2 s and one tenth of a second. |
(.) | A dot in parentheses indicates a tiny gap of less than 0.2 s within or between utterances. |
Prosodic features of utterances | |
word | Underscoring a word or part thereof indicates some form of stress. |
:: | Colons indicate prolongation of the immediately prior sound. Multiple colons indicate a more prolonged sound. |
- | A dash indicates a cutoff. |
w-w-word | Stuttering is indicated by a repetition of the stuttered sound connected by hyphens. |
* | An asterisk around an utterance or part thereof indicates creaky voice. |
$ | A dollar symbol around an utterance or part thereof indicates smiley voice. |
. | A period indicates a stopping fall in intonation. |
, | A comma indicates a slightly rising, continuing intonation. |
? | A question mark indicates a rising intonation. |
¿ | A “Spanish question” mark indicates stronger rise than a comma but weaker than a question mark. |
_ | An underline symbol after the word indicates a level pitch contour. |
x:x | An underlined colon within a syllable indicates that the intonation within the syllable falls then rises. |
xx: | An underlined second letter within a syllable followed by a nonunderlined colon indicates that the intonation within the syllable rises then falls. |
The absence of an utterance-final marker indicates some sort of “indeterminate” contour. | |
↑ | An upward arrow indicates a marked shift into higher pitch in the utterance-part immediately following the arrow. |
↓ | A downward arrow indicates a marked shift into lower pitch in the utterance-part immediately following the arrow. |
WORD | Upper case indicates especially loud sounds relative to the surrounding talk. |
·word | Staccato talk is indicated by a bullet prior to the utterance-part. |
°word° °°word°° | Utterances or utterance-parts bracketed by degree signs are relatively quieter than the surrounding talk. Very quiet talk is indicated by two degrees signs on each side. |
<word> | Left/right carats bracketing an utterance or part thereof indicate slowing down as compared to the surrounding talk. |
>word< | Right/left carats bracketing an utterance or part thereof indicate speeding up as compared to the surrounding talk. |
.hhh | A dot-prefixed row of “h’s indicates an in breath. |
hhh | Without the dot, the “h”s indicate an out breath. |
w(h)ord | A parenthesized h, or a row of hs within a word, indicates breathiness, such as can be heard in laughter and crying. |
Transcriber’s doubts and comments | |
( ) | The length of empty parentheses indicates the length of talk that the transcriber was unable to hear. Empty parentheses in the speaker designation column indicate inability to identify a speaker. |
(word) | Especially dubious hearings or speaker identifications are indicated by parentheses around the utterance, utterance-part, or speaker designation. |
(( )) | Transcriber descriptions are indicated by double parentheses. |
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this entry
Cite this entry
White, S.J. (2018). Conversation Analysis: An Introduction to Methodology, Data Collection, and Analysis. In: Liamputtong, P. (eds) Handbook of Research Methods in Health Social Sciences . Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2779-6_107-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2779-6_107-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-2779-6
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-2779-6
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Social SciencesReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences