Multiphase Sequence Analysis

Abstract

This chapter brings together methodological tools helping to compare sets of multiphase sequences, i.e., sequences structured into successive phases. First, the notions of phase and multiphase sequences are presented. Phases are defined by two properties—internal consistency and processual location—that imply two crucial methodological assumptions: phases are regarded both as sites of narratives and as dissociated incommensurable episodes. Three parameters of the division into phases are distinguished and exemplified: the reference frame of the division, the alphabet(s) of the dissociated phases, and the phase-structure of the sequences. Two ways of rendering multiphase sequences are considered: event-aligned representations and sliced representations. We then introduce multiphase optimal matching, a measure of pairwise distances between multiphase sequences the logic of which can be extended to other dissimilarity measures. Throughout the chapter, an example of two-phase sequences drawn from a study of the careers of participants in professional pâtissier competitions in France is developed.