This tutorial introduces the EM/CA research tradition I work within. It is written for people who are new to the approach. The concepts and terms are associated with conversation analysis (CA) and ethnomethodology (EM). These approaches were founded in the 1950s and 60s, but have steadily expanded over time. There are now thousands of academic researchers worldwide doing EM/CA work in diverse settings. The ideas inform how big companies such as Google, Xerox and Nissan, IBM, manage innovation and product development (see Szymanski and Whalen 2012).
Some people find the approach tricky and somewhat elusive. Maybe this is because Harold Garfinkel's founding text, Studies in Ethnomethodology, is wonderful, but also fairly enigmatic. The key texts for conversation analysis are Harvey Sacks' Lectures in Conversation, which are transcriptions of Sacks' lectures and run to some 1400 pages, and the 'Simplest Systematics' paper (Sacks, Schegloff and Jefferson, 1974), which is technical and demanding. These readings are tough. You are quickly introduced to lots of terms that aren't familiar. The good news is that the approach itself is actually not too hard to get into and you can progress quickly. The aim of the tutorial is to get this point across.
To get to the next page in the tutorial click 'Engaging Ordinary Activities' below.