Coding social interactions in naturalistic settings: The taxonomy of dyadic conversation

Abstract

Social interaction and conversation is an essential aspect of human behavior, yet existing methods for coding conversations are outdated, and often can only be used in contrived research settings. The Taxonomy of Dyadic Conversation (TDC) is a coding system designed to code dyadic interactions in natural settings by labeling the utterances and turns taken within an interaction using speech categories. The TDC was used to code child–caregiver and adult–adult conversations in a children’s museum and during a public forum, respectively. Results supported hypotheses that predicted adult–adult interactions would contain more Declarative Statement and Acknowledgment utterances than child–caregiver interactions, while child–caregiver interactions contained fewer Conversational Turns, as well as more Command and Encouragement utterances. Results also indicated high levels of inter-rater reliability. The potential for additions and modifications to be applied to the standard TDC is discussed.