ABSTRACT
IN recent years, interaction analysis has become an increasingly popular method of inquiry among researchers. The method has been popular among small group scholars (Bales, 1950; DeStephen, 1981; Ellis, 1979; Ellis & Fisher, 1975; Fisher, 1970, 1979b; Fisher & Beach, 1979; Fisher & Werbel, 1979; Gouran & Baird, 1972; Hawes, 1973a; Hawes & Foley, 1976; Hirokawa, 1981; Krueger, 1979; Mabry, 1975a, 1975b; Poole, 1981; Valentine & Fisher, 1974). Interaction analysis has also been used to investigate interviews (Hawes, 1972a, 1972b, 1973b; Hawes & Foley, 1973), marital communication (Courtright, Millar, & Rogers-Millar, 1979; Gottman, Markman, & Notarius, 1977), and other dyadic relationships (Fisher, 1979a; Fisher & Beach, 1978; Fisher & Drecksel, 1982). Briefly, interaction analysis involves coding verbal, and sometimes nonverbal, behaviors into discrete (usually nominal) categories and describing the sequential structure (connections) of contiguous acts over time.
