Summary
Contents
Subject index
A Comprehensive Guide to Studying and Interpreting Communication Interaction This practical book provides students and experienced researchers with tools for studying communication behaviors through direct observation. The sourcebook provides sound coverage of both cutting-edge and well-established systems, measurements, and procedures, as well as detailed information on measurement selection, coding, reliability assessment, and analysis. In addition to offering theoretical discussions from leading researchers in the field, each chapter also focuses on how to apply systems and principles in conducting actual original research and uses examples and exemplars to help readers understand and apply the methods.
Coding Observed Interaction
Coding Observed Interaction
In this chapter, we discuss practical and conceptual issues when coding observed communication. At first glance, the process can seem straightforward: One selects a coding system, trains coders to use the manual, and checks reliability. However, coding requires more than mechanically applying categories or ratings to message units. Coding is a form of message interpretation, analogous to what happens in all communication (Folger, Hewes, & Poole, 1984). Coders, like participants in communication, apply interpretive rules to discourse and nonverbal behavior in order to discern meaning, either conventional meaning or meaning specific to observer or participant goals. In observational coding, as in everyday communication, standardized coding rules promote shared meaning (i.e., reliability) but do not remove ...
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