CHAPTER 4
PATTERNS BETWEEN GROUPSChapter Overview
The “answers” to the research questions are somewhat interactive. For example,
in discussing the second question (Chapter 3), I came to some partial conclusions about
the Modified Claims and Alternate Claims. A more comprehensive examination of the
role of Modified Claims and Alternate Claims is given in this chapter which addresses
Research Question 3. This chapter examines additional patterns common to all 14
groups. The emphasis in this chapter is on the groups’ use of the Alternate Claims and
Modified Claims. Although there are 16 prototype patterns of argument co-construction
in the 14 groups, I will show there are several common features between those 16
patterns and the 14 groups.
It may be helpful to quickly review the definition of the episode, since it is the
persistent feature of this analysis. An episode is “defined as one or more exchanges
which comprise a completed verbal transaction between two or more speakers. A new
episode is determined by a shift in what the speakers are talking about, which may be a
new aspect, or part of a topic or a complete change of topic” (Sandefur and Bressler,
1971). Tables 2-4 (page 58) and 2-5 (page 59) summarize the statement types used in the
episode coding. When the fourteen groups were analyzed, it was found that twelve of
them could be characterized individually with a unique prototypical episode, and two
groups exhibited two prototypical patterns. That is, I was able to reduce each of the
groups to predictable patterns for a particular group.