Using Transcripts to Evaluate Test Counseling Strategies

Papers on HIV Test Counseling from the
Theorizing Desire Conference

 

 

The point of transcripts is to show a sequence of events that occured in one particular session, not to offer a case study that represents what is typical. The theory behind "conversation analysis" is that in conversations, statements do things in relation to the previous statement. The people interacting are continually negotiating the context of the conversation by carefully playing around with the rules (or expectations) of conversation. The degree to which the conversation follows expected paths is evident in the degree of false starts, pauses, and prefaces to statements. If the prefered answer to a question is offered, there will be no delay in the response.

We cannot know what the interactants are thinking. In fact, even they don't know what they are thinking, because they are too busy acting (doing), improvising in response to a changing dynamic. We focus on their actions in sequence so that we can deduce what they are thinking. The transcripts are like slow motion photography, allowing us to see the all the little steps that lead the interactants from one shared definition of the situation to another.

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