My research is concerned with the process of face-to-face interaction. The research proceeds from the notion that much of interaction is convention based or rule governed. The rules governing interaction would include, among other things, actions that may appropriately be taken by each participant, and the sequences in which these actions may be taken.
Most of the early work focused on various phenomena related to speaking turns in conversations between adults. Although a number of signals and rules were hypothesized, the main purpose was methodological: to develop methods and a descriptive framework for studying interaction in general.
When methods and description were somewhat developed, I turned to substantive phenomena: the process of parent-child interaction within the home, and the relation of this interaction to early socialization. A goal has been to describe the characteristics and development of the infant's interaction capabilities. As the work progressed, interaction during the infant's first and second years became the focus of the research. At the same time, the development of research methods has continued. Although these methods have been developed in the context of studies of infant-parent interaction, they are designed to be applicable to face-to-face interaction of any sort.
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