Deck 10: Conversation Analysis: Explaining Talks Structure and Function

Question 1

Conversational analysts study conversations, which usually refer to

A) Text messages and email between two or more people
B) Telephone or face-to-face interactions between two or more people
C) Online posts between two or more people
D) All of the above

Answer 1

B

Question 2

A key difference between conversational analysis (CA) and most quantitative social science research is

A) CA researchers use imprecise measurements when collecting data
B) CA researchers use their own specific definitions and procedures that are rarely generalizable
C) CA researchers use inductive reasoning to develop their study
D) CA researchers use deductive reasoning to develop their study

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Which of the following most likely would be studied by a CA researcher?

A) How doctors talk about cancer treatments with their patients
B) How patients understand medical charts about their condition
C) How hospitals publicize their services on their web site
D) All of the above are possible CA research topics

Answer 3

A

Question 4

CA studies attempt to explain sequence organization, which refers to

A) The ways in which turns-at-talk are ordered and combined to make actions take place in conversation
B) The microlevel organization in conversation
C) Requests, offers, complains, and announcement actions in conversations
D) All of the above

Question 5

A conversational structure in which the first pair part calls for or invites the second pair part is called a(n) :

A) Adjacency pair
B) Claim of sequence
C) Unit of analysis
D) Account

Question 6

Conversational sequences such as question-answer, compliment-response, and buying-selling are examples of:

A) Adjacency pairs
B) Turn-taking
C) Preference
D) Repair

Question 7

CA researchers are exploring the differences in how apologies occur in a hospital, school setting, and workplace. They are interested how this context influences the sequential structures:

A) Environmental contexts
B) Institutional contexts
C) Interpersonal contexts
D) Global contexts

Question 8

Strict reliance on transcripts alone (apart from other contextual evidence) as evidence for a claim observed by some conversational analysts is referred to as the:

A) Formatting rule for transcripts
B) Rule of analytic induction
C) Strict empirical requirement
D) Referential function rule

Question 9

In conversational analysis, preference refers to:

A) How we decide to respond to a greeting
B) How we choose to go on with a conversation
C) How we respond to a compliment
D) All of the above

Question 10

By combining adjacency pairs with different kinds of expansion, CA scholars can:

A) Explain the differences between local and global contexts
B) Explain longer conversation sequences that accomplish some action
C) Explain why conversational participants violate the rules
D) None of the above

Question 11

Speakers who are asked a question during conversation should provide a truthful, relevant, and brief answer. What area of CA research deals with this topic?

A) Turn-taking
B) Preference
C) Repair
D) Adjacency pairs

Question 12

Which CA research topic would be most likely to consider instances of breaching?

A) Turn-taking
B) Preference
C) Repair
D) Action sequences

Question 13

If your CA study aims to describe how teachers move from starting the class session to giving a lecture, conducting an activity, and concluding the session, you are probably studying:

A) Turn-taking
B) Preference
C) Repair
D) Action sequences

Question 14

The first step in creating an inductive claim for a CA study involves considering:

A) The context
B) The speaker's turn-taking behaviors
C) The sequence of turns in a conversation
D) The role of preferred and dispreferred behaviors

Question 15

A parent tells a child that she must always apologize when she interrupts a conversation. The parent is teaching the child:

A) How to take turns
B) How to repair a breach
C) How to enact an adjacency pair
D) How to give a preferred response

Question 16

A CA researcher might study utterances, sentences, or a speaking turn, which are examples of:

A) Adjacency pairs
B) Sequence organization
C) Units of analysis
D) Action sequences

Question 17

An advantage of videotaping to capture data for conversation analysis is that it:

A) Captures non-verbal aspects of conversation
B) Allows researchers to study embodied interactions
C) Can show how talk is integrated with the physical environment
D) All of the above are advantages

Question 18

Which ethical assurance is more likely to be given in a CA study that employs videotaped interactions that will be saved in a conversational database?

A) Confidentiality
B) Anonymity
C) Forbidding other researchers' from using the data
D) All of the above

Question 19

The slowest and most tedious part of doing CA research is probably:

A) Developing a claim or research question
B) Selecting sample textual data
C) Recording interactions
D) Transcribing interactions

Question 20

Which characteristics of a transcript might be used to warrant the external validity of CA data?

A) Intertranscriber reliability
B) Detail level
C) Sample representativeness
D) All of the above
Essays:

Question 21

Define turn-taking, adjacency pairs, preference, repair, and action sequences. Give an example to illustrate each term from recent conversations you have experienced or observed.

Question 22

Outline the steps for conducting a conversational analysis. Then discuss concerns about validity and reliability related to each step.