Discovering a Candidate Phenomenon

How do we find a candidate phenomenon in interactional data? In this chapter we examine a number of methods for doing so. We make an initial distinction between observations and discoveries. Drawing on the cumulative experience of a number of conversation analysts, we provide some guidelines to help analysts develop observations into discoveries. We then investigate a range of approaches to identifying action: the heart of CA method. This includes an overview of Schegloff’s analytic ‘keys’ as a way into data. All of these approaches have the radically inductive methods of CA at its core. However, there are other starting points, and we discuss some of these alternative ways of bringing CA methods to bear on the data of interaction.