Recent Improvements in Portraying Acts in Symbolic Interaction Behavioral Specimens

Abstract

Behavioral specimens are slices of ongoing interaction that take particular behavioral observations from beginning to end and report the temporal sequence of the behaviors under investigation. This article takes the position that behavioral specimens as a symbolic interaction tool preserve the context of natural interaction in interpersonal relationships. Whereas this technique of data collection was first used by Barker and Wright in 1954, over 30 years ago, the format of the specimen presented here is new, because nonverbal behaviors are now recorded in a fashion that reflects the timing of the behaviors in relation to verbalizations. The intent of the new specimen format is to enhance the ecological validity of recordings through a more accurate representation of the contemporaneous nature of nonverbal behaviors and to convey a working knowledge of the actors under analysis.