Sarah White

Conversation analysis is a qualitative research methodology with roots in sociology, and, in particular, ethnomethodology. Over the past 50 years, it has developed not only within sociology but across the fields of linguistics, anthropology, and psychology. In health care research, conversation analysis has been successfully applied in researching interactions in primary care, surgery, pediatrics, and psychotherapy, to name a few examples. Conversation analysis allows the researcher to analyze the structures of interaction at a micro level, focusing on how the participants make sense of each other in conversation through shared interactional norms. In this chapter, I begin by surveying the history and development of conversation analysis. I consider methods of data collection and explore aspects of analysis in everyday conversation and in institutional interaction. I review key conversation analytic research in health care and consider its application and use for health care researchers.

The clash between the public right to know and public safety is just one of the fundamental conflicts raised by Hurst and White in this, the first definitive study of ethics in the Australian news media. Hurst and White explore the concept of ethical conduct, apply it to journalism, then draw on a wealth of local examples where the news media's conduct was challenged. They examine the attempts to codify the principles - from the policies of press councils to the journalists' own codes of ethics - and show where these are inadequate, muddled or honoured in the breach. They put forward some provocative ideas for reform.