conversation analysis

Conversation analysis (commonly abbreviated as CA) is an approach to the study of social interaction, embracing both verbal and non-verbal conduct, in situations of everyday life. As its name implies, CA began with a focus on casual conversation, but its methods were subsequently adapted to embrace more task- and institution-centered interactions, such as those occurring in doctors' offices, courts, law enforcement, helplines, educational settings, and the mass media. As a consequence, the term 'conversation analysis' has become something of a misnomer, but it has continued as a term for a distinctive and successful approach to the analysis of social interactions.

Paul ten Have©, University of Amsterdam

On December 1st, 2002, I retired as a part-time Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Antropology, Faculty of Social  and Behavioural Sciences, University of Amsterdam.  I was also a staff member of the Dutch Graduate School in Science & Technology Studies: Science, Technology and Modern Culture.

Interests

My research interests can be indicated by the concepts of ethnomethodology, conversation analysis, medical interaction, technology and research practices. I have a long-standing interest in qualitative research methods, as evident in most of my teaching, a number of publications, and some of my research. My general orientation has been shaped mostly by ethnomethodology, which I most often apply in the form of Conversation Analysis. Since the late 1970's, I have done research on doctor-patient interaction in the context of the general practice consultation, i.e. in general medicine. Or, to say it a bit differently, I have studied the local order of the consultation as a collaborative achievement of the parties concerned. For the last 15 years or so, I have also developed an interest in the study of local practices involving various kinds of technology, such as ICT as in word processing or web page design. For these studies I have mostly used a variety of 'reflexive methods', i.e. my personal experiences with such technologies in doing various kinds of tasks. Recently, I have turned my ethnomethodological eye (and ear) to one of my leisure persuits, burding (seen my last publication in my selective bibliography).

Publications

 Bibliography

A selective bibliography of my publications in English and German is available.

 Books

I have written two books in Dutch, on field research (1977) and GP consultations (1987) respectively, and two in English, Doing Conversation Analysis: A Practical Guide (SAGE Publications, 1999; Second edition, 2007) and Understanding qualitative research and ethnomethodology (SAGE Publications, 2004). I have also co-edited two collections of papers in Dutch, one on medical technology (1994) and one on qualitative medical sociology (1997), and two in English. The first was a book edited with George Psathas: Situated Order: Studies in the social organization of talk and embodied activities.  This is a collection of papers, originally presented at the conference on "Current Work in Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis" which I co-organized at the University of Amsterdam in 1991. It is, of course, strongly recommended. The second was a  special issue of Discourse Studies (vol. 6, issue 1; February 2004) on the theme of 'scripted practices', in honour of the late Hanneke Houtkoop-Steenstra.