Course Description
Ethnomethodological (EM) and conversation analytic (CA) approaches to research. Other topics are philosophical assumptions; a review of literature in EM and CA in different disciplines; key scholars; scholarly debates; 'pure' and 'applied' CA; membership categorization analysis (MCA); and applications to naturally occurring data and interview data.
Athena Title
ETHNO CA STUDIES
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in ERSH 8560
Pre or Corequisite
ERSH 8400 and ERSH 8410
Semester Course Offered
Offered spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
Students will 1. investigate the philosophical traditions within the field of sociology from which ethnomethodological (EM) and conversation analytic (CA) studies emerged; 2. develop an understanding of how these approaches differs from other qualitative approaches to research; 3. examine the common sense resources and everyday reasoning through which members of a culture produce social actions; 4. investigate the ways in which social interaction is ordered and organized by members; 5. examine different methods used by researchers to do empirical studies; 6. investigate conversation analytic strands of research in both ‘pure’ and applied traditions; 7. investigate the principles of membership categorization analysis (MCA); 8. develop skills in performing detailed analyses of transcripts of talk-in-interaction.
Topical Outline
Week 1: Course overview, introducing “members’ methods” Week 2: Ethnomethodological foundations Week 3: Introduction to EM/CA/MCA Week 4: What is ethnomethodology? Week 5: The work of Harold Garfinkel Week 6: Studying everyday action Week 7: The documentary method of interpretation and applications of the ethnomethodological approach Week 8: An introduction to conversation analysis Week 9: Sequential structure, turn taking, repair and preference in talk-in-interaction Week 10: Data & transcription Week 11: Applications & presentation of conversation analysis Week 12: Introduction to Membership Categorization Analysis Week 13: Using membership categorization analysis methods with data Week 14: Applied conversation analytic studies & MCA Week 15: Principles of data sessions Week 16: Class presentations of analysis of talk in interaction