— Syllabus —

COM 425 — Analysis of Face-to-Face Communication
Fall Semester 1999

Course web page: http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~comfrank/Com425.htm

Time: MWF 11:00 - 11:50 am
Room: 119 Clemens
Instructor: Dr. Frank Tutzauer
Office: 361 Baldy
Email: comfrank@acsu.buffalo.edu
Phone: (716) 645-2141
Office hours: by e-mail appointment

Introduction:

This class is designed to give the student a background in the conduct and practice of social interaction research. Topics to be covered include coding schemes, reliability, data collection and analysis, and the interpretation of research results. Research teams will be formed, and students will be expected to participate in the analysis of face-to-face communication as part of the course. There is no text.

Readings:

Gamst, G. (1982). Memory for conversation: Toward a grammar of dyadic conversation. Discourse Processes, 5, 33-51.
Stech, E. L. (1979). A grammar of conversation with a quantitative empirical test. Human Communication Research, 5, 158-170.
Craig, Robert T., & Tracy, Karen (1983). Appendix: The B-K conversation. In Robert T. Craig & Karen Tracy (eds.), Conversational coherence: Form, structure, and strategy. Beverly Hills: Sage, pp. 299-320.

Grades will be based on the following:

First exam
20%

Ad Hoc projects
20%

Individual project
20%

Group project

Contribution
10%

Presentation
10%

Final Report
20%

All material handed in is to be typed by STRICTLY following the fourth edition of APA's Publication Manual. Plagiarism--taking one's ideas or words as your own--is expressly prohibited and will be punished to the fullest extent possible, no matter how slight the infraction. Plagiarism applies to programs as well as papers. You may talk to others about logic, techniques, and syntax, but write the code by yourself. Do NOT use someone else's program as a model.

Tentative Course Schedule:

Week
Topic Readings

1
Course introduction; research methods

2
Social research; statistics

3
Coding; examples; catch-up

4
Coding exercise; data; review

5
Exam

6
Gamst; Stech Gamst; Stech

7
Markov analysis; lag sequential analysis

8
Catch-up

9
Begin individual project

10
Individual project

11
Begin group project Craig & Tracy

12
Group project

13
Thanksgiving

14
Finish group project

15
Presentations

16
Finals

Back to the course homepage

First exam		20%
Ad Hoc projects		20%
Individual project		20%
Group project
	Contribution	10%
	Presentation	10%
	Final Report	20%

*Week*	*Topic*	*Readings*
1	Course introduction; research methods
2	Social research; statistics
3	Coding; examples; catch-up
4	Coding exercise; data; review
5	Exam
6	Gamst; Stech	Gamst; Stech
7	Markov analysis; lag sequential analysis
8	Catch-up
9	Begin individual project
10	Individual project
11	Begin group project	Craig & Tracy
12	Group project
13	Thanksgiving
14	Finish group project
15	Presentations
16	Finals