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We live our lives in conversation, building families, societies and civilisations. In over seven thousand languages across the world, the basic infrastructure by which we communicate remains the same. This is the first ever book-length linguistic introduction to conversation analysis (CA), the field that has done more than any other to illuminate the mechanics of interaction. Starting by locating CA by reference to a number of cognate disciplines investigating language in use, it provides an overview of the origins and methodology of CA. By using conversational data from a range of languages, it examines the basic apparatus of sequence organisation: turn-taking, preference, identity construction and repair. As the basis for these investigations, the book uses the twin analytic resources of action and sequence to throw new light on the origins and nature of language use.

Researched analysis, using the full range of conceptual & analytical tools developed by various disciplines, can be contrasted with quick analysis, a different approach. Quick analysis was developed in a basic course in analytical methods to give students a grasp of the essentials of analytical thinking. It involves thinking about a problem, decomposing it into components, simplifying by discarding nonessential factors, specifying elements with data sources or judgment, & rethinking all these steps on the basis of sensitivity consideration. The methods of quick analysis in approaching such problems are those appropriate to busy decisionmakers, thus introducing decision analysis & a decision-oriented perspective. A dynamically iterative approach is used, aiming to teach essentials rather than techniques, & to build up student confidence for real decision situations. Failure to convey these essentials makes analysis more sophisticated but may also render it meaningless. W. H. Stoddard.

Survival analysis is a class of statistical methods for studying the occurrence and timing of events. With clearly written summaries and plentiful examples, this pocket guide will put this important statistical tool in the hands of many more social work researchers than have been able to use it before

Discusses the value of social network analysis for teasing out the network processes in social movements, particularly (1) how collective action is affected by actors' embeddedness in preexisting networks, & (2) how actors create new linkages that shape the subsequent development of protest &/or subcultural activities. Issues of data collection & organization are examined in detail, & ways of analyzing social movement structure & individual positions in social movement networks are demonstrated. A combination of qualitative & quantitative methods is deemed the most useful in network analysis. 5 Tables, 3 Figures, 74 References. K. Hyatt Stewart