Coding Social Interaction: Prospects, Pitfalls, and Procedures

Coding interactional phenomena for formal quantification poses substantial challenges, especially for conversation analysts committed to the emic validity of analytic categories. Recognizing that each step in the process merits more sustained attention than is possible within a single paper, our aim is to sketch in broad strokes the overall process of developing and implementing coding systems. We touch on key issues and, when possible, suggest guidelines and best practices for four phases of the process: (1) developing the coding system, including the importance of context-sensitive case analysis as a basis for coding categories; (2) determining what will count as a codable case, including the problem of incompletely realized and compound cases; (3) testing and refining the coding system; and (4) coding “for real,” addressing various methods for maintaining reliability and promoting a common coding culture. Data are in English.