Editing Conversation analysis (section)

== Method ==
Conversation analysts typically start by gathering audio or video recordings of real life encounters, which they transcribe using a detailed system pioneered by [[Gail Jefferson]].  Generalizations are built up through close examination and interpretation of specific encounters with an eye towards trying to uncover the methods the member are using,<ref name="schegloff1996collection">{{cite journal |last1=Schegloff |first1=Emanuel A. |title=Confirming Allusions: Toward an Empirical Account of Action |journal=American Journal of Sociology |date=1996 |volume=102 |issue=1 |pages=161–216 |doi=10.1086/230911|s2cid=143707365 }}</ref> often from different interactions with different people, but some studies also focus on a ''single-case analysis''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pomerantz |first1=Anita |last2=Fehr |first2=Barbara J. |editor1-last=Van Dijk |editor1-first=Teun A. |title=Discourse Studies: A Multidisciplinary Introduction II - Discourse as Social Interaction |date=1997 |publisher=SAGE |location=London |pages=64–91 |edition=1 |url=https://www.academia.edu/21784484 |chapter=Conversation analysis: an approach to the study of social action as sense making practices}}</ref> Crucially, the method uses the fact that interaction consists of multiple participants and that they make sense of each other, so the method proceeds by considering e.g. how one turn by a specific participant displays an understanding of the previous turn by another participant (or other earlier interaction). This is commonly referred to as the ''next-turn proof procedure''<ref name="Sacks1974" /> even though ''[[proof (truth)|proof]]'' is not to be taken literally. Research questions revolve around participants' orientation, that is, what features (linguistic or other) that cues people to respond in certain ways and influence the trajectory of an interaction. A key part of the method are ''deviant cases'' in collections, as they show that when a participant does not follow a norm, the interaction is affected in a way that reveals the existence of the norm in focus.<ref name="schegloff1996collection" />  Sacks spoke of 'noticeable absences' in his lectures.

The data used in CA is in the form of video- or audio-recorded conversations, collected with or without researchers' involvement, typically from a video camera or other recording device in the space where the conversation takes place (e.g. a living room, picnic, or doctor's office). The researchers construct detailed transcriptions from the recordings, containing as much detail as is possible.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hepburn |first1=Alexa |last2=Bolden |first2=Galina B.|title=Transcribing for social research |date=2017 |publisher=SAGE |location=London |isbn=9781446247044}}</ref><ref name="jefferson2004transcript">{{cite book|last=Jefferson|first=Gail|editor-last=Lerner|editor-first=Gene H.|title=Conversation Analysis: Studies from the First Generation|date=2004|publisher=John Benjamins|location=Amsterdam/Philadelphia|isbn=9789027295286|pages=13–31|chapter=Glossary of transcript symbols with an introduction|author-link=Gail Jefferson}}</ref>

The transcription often contains additional information about [[nonverbal communication]] and the way people say things. ''Jeffersonian transcription'' is a commonly used method of transcription<ref name="transcription">{{cite book |last1=Hepburn|first1=Alexa|last2=Bolden|first2=Galina B. |editor1-last=Stivers |editor1-first=Tanya |editor2-last=Sidnell |editor2-first=Jack |title=The Handbook of Conversation Analysis|date=2013|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|isbn=9781118325001|pages=59–76|chapter=The Conversation Analytic Approach to Transcription|doi=10.1002/9781118325001.ch4}}</ref> and nonverbal details are often transcribed according to ''Mondadan'' conventions by Lorenza Mondada.<ref name=mondada2019>{{cite web |last1=Mondada |first1=Lorenza |title=Conventions for multimodal transcription |url=https://www.lorenzamondada.net/multimodal-transcription |access-date=25 November 2021 |date=2019}}</ref>

After transcription, the researchers perform inductive data-driven [[analysis]] aiming to find recurring patterns of interaction. Based on the analysis, the researchers identify regularities, rules or models to describe these patterns, enhancing, modifying or replacing initial hypotheses. While this kind of inductive analysis based on collections of data exhibits is basic to fundamental work in CA, it has been more common in recent years to also use statistical analysis in applications of CA to solve problems in medicine and elsewhere.

While conversation analysis provides a method of analysing conversation, this method is informed by an underlying theory of what features of conversation are meaningful and the meanings that are likely implied by these features. Additionally there is a body of theory about how to interpret conversation.<ref name="BaxterBraithwaite2008">{{cite book|first=Leslie A.|last=Baxter|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HWLXu63TQWQC&pg=PA175|title=Engaging Theories in Interpersonal Communication: Multiple Perspectives|author2=Dawn O. Braithwaite|date=2008|publisher=SAGE|isbn=978-1-4129-3852-5|page=175|chapter=13}}</ref>