Article published In: The Quality of Quantity, the Quantity of Quality
Edited by Steven Schoonjans
[Nota Bene 2:1] 2025
► pp. 41–68
Integrating quantitative methods into conversation analysis
Exploring psychological reactance through interactional coding
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.
For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.
Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with University of Duisburg-Essen.
Published online: 26 September 2025
https://doi.org/10.1075/nb.00023.kru
https://doi.org/10.1075/nb.00023.kru
Abstract
This paper explores integrating quantitative methods into Conversation Analysis (CA) to examine psychological
reactance in face-to-face interactions. Although extensively studied in mediated contexts, psychological reactance – a
motivational state triggered by perceived threats to autonomy – remains underexplored in natural conversations. Addressing this
gap, the study investigates how reactance manifests and affects conversational dynamics, such as stance-taking and disalignments.
Video-recorded interactions were collected where participants faced reactance-inducing conditions (e.g., limiting
smartphone use). Using GAT2 transcription and multimodal annotations, a systematic triple manual coding was used to identify
markers of reactance. For statistical tests, the averages of the coding decisions were used to utilize the interpretative
flexibility inherent in coding. Quantitative analyses showed significant relationships: reactance correlated positively with
perceived freedom restriction, negatively with stance, and predicted conversational disalignment. Findings demonstrate that
integrating quantitative methods into CA enhances its capacity to analyze complex phenomena like reactance, linking interactional
practices with psychological concepts and advancing methodological discussions within CA.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Investigating psychological reactance through quantitative methods in conversation analysis
- 3.Methodological challenges and benefits of integrating quantitative approaches into conversation analysis
- Quantification in CA
- Benefits and opportunities of quantification for CA
- 4.Data: Study design and methods
- Study design
- Methods & coding
- Hypotheses
- 5.Hypothesis testing
- 6.Discussion
- Acknowledgements
- Note
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