ABSTRACT
Adopting an ethnomethodologically informed conversation analytic (EM/CA) approach to study the organization of parent–child interactions implies close observation, detailed description, and examination of their naturally occurring interactions—”interactions that have not been orchestrated by the researcher, which would have taken place even if she would be absent—but which represent people’s ordinary business” (Mondada 2006: 53). The goal is to discover and to demonstrate the local, interactive, and methodical organization of social order: “It is possible that study of small phenomena may give an enormous understanding of the way humans do things and the kinds of objects they use to construct and order their affairs” (Sacks 1984a: 24). As a corollary, the analytical process is based on the combined use of video- or audio-recorded, naturally occurring interactions and detailed transcriptions (Atkinson and Heritage 1984: 12).
