My orientation within sociology involves the subfields of ethnomethodology and conversation analysis. People often say, "What IS ethnomethodology?" I cannot define ethnomethodology very well without having you attend one of my seminars (uh oh), but it means roughly that I am interested in direct interaction, especially the practices that participants employ together using their bodies and their talk to assemble features of the social scenes they inhabit.

People also ask me, "Since you're a conversation analyst, are you taking apart our conversation right now when we talk? How am I doing? " I can assure that I'm not able to think fast enough to analyze conversation on the fly; it takes all my energy just to be a sensible person while we talk, and no doubt the same is true for you. Each of us, I figure, gets an "A" for effort no matter what the outcome. Well, at least usually.

For my research, consequently, I use videotape and audiotape of real people in actual (not experimental or other contrived) settings dealing with one another through talk and related behaviors. I have investigated the structures of topical talk, discussions in legal settings, interviews in educational and survey settings, medical encounters, and other social arenas. A long-time project involves "bad" and "good" news as it is delivered and received in a variety of ordinary and more specialized settings, especially medicine. Another long-time project has involved collaboration with Prof. Nora Cate Schaeffer. Currently we are studying interactional aspects of cognitive measurement in the survey interview, specifically involving the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. Most recently, with Prof. John Heritage (UCLA), I have co-edited a book about communication in primary care medicine.

Here is a list of publications including books as well as selected and downloadable journal articles.

I teach courses on language and social interaction (conversation analysis) and ethnomethodology as well as social psychology, and I have broad interests in theory, methodology, and science and technology studies.