Integrating interactional and contextual information: The synchronized observation procedure.

Abstract

A method for integrating interactional and contextual information in observations in natural settings is described. Distinctive features of the procedure include the employment of two synchronized observers who simultaneously record at two levels of analysis and who shift roles systematically during the course of observation. Somes advantages of the procedure for synthesizing contextual and dyadic observations are described, along with some methodological criterions like efficiency, reliability, utility and validity of the observations