Beckie Garrison

FURSCA Ending Summary

Nonverbal Coding

    My FURSCA project is primarily concerned with methodology, and in my case nonverbal coding. My professor, Dr. Karen Erlandson, has been collecting data about roommate conflict for the past two years to look at and measure nonverbal variables and I was interested in learning how researchers in Communication Studies measured or coded this type of research. After receiving human subjects approval, Dr. Erlandson recruited roommates from Albion college to come to her office and be videotaped talking about a recent conflict. After doing some reading and review of nonverbal communication, my partner and I learned how to code the nonverbal behavior of the roommate pairs from Dr. Erlandson’s videtapes. The coding scheme that we used was a well published one that focused on measures of nonverbal immediacy. Nonverbal coding involves learning how to code properly so that the results can be valid and consistent.  Therefore my FURSCA project focused on gaining stronger background knowledge of nonverbal communication, training to learn and understand exactly how to measure and code for nonverbal behaviors, and the final step of watching/coding the 51 videos involved in this study.

     I began the first couple weeks of this project in training. This entailed doing some background reading on nonverbal communication. I read several articles that defined the many different forms and aspects of nonverbal communication that deepened my understanding of the field. For example, I found that nonverbal communication includes all the messages other than words that people exchange within any interaction which include aspects of the voice, body, and facial movements. I studied operational definitions of some of these variables and discussing these definitions until my partner, Lindsay, and I had reached an agreement between us regarding what they mean, and then watching examples and recording our judgments. For each variable and definition we watched examples to determine what each of them looked like in the videotapes. It was very important that we were in agreement, but if there were discrepancy we have a dialogue about why each of us scored the behavior the way we did. Once we reached acceptable levels of agreement (.75-1.0 range) we were free to independently code each of the dyads, or roommate pairs.

     From that point each of us separately watched each dyad numerous times and filled out our coding sheet for each individual roommate’s nonverbal behaviors as we watched. For each dyad I would start by viewing each dyad and looking only at target A (who is always on the left) and cover up target B (who is always on the right) with a piece of paper and then switching the process by viewing the tape to look only at target B.  Some of the aspects of nonverbal communication that we would code for included overall body movement, nervous movement and gestures, rocking or twisting one’s body or limbs back and forth, and facial expressions. For every 10 dyads I checked in with Dr. Erlandson to make sure that our reliabilities were still acceptable. Finally after we had viewed and completed coding for all 51 dyads earlier than expected, we went back through out coding sheets and made a list of the various conflict topics discussed by the roommates to be used at a later time within Dr. Erlandson’s research study.

     This type of work is important for two different reasons. First, I have a better understanding of what communication scholars mean when they say nonverbal communication. I was able to learn and experience first hand this particular aspect of the research process in the social sciences. I was able to see how one area of my field goes about conducting research and collecting data. Now, in class while reading studies and other research, I will have a much richer understanding of what the authors mean when they describe how data was operationalized and coded.  Another important part of this project will be the information obtained from all the compiled data that was coded. The results could help design a more efficient way to compatibly pair roommates together, saving people a lot of stress and confrontation in the long run.

     My project focused on methodology and therefore my end result is the successful completion of the 51 dyads.  Dr. Erlandson will take all the data we have collected and plans to compare them to the surveys that each participant completed at the end of the videotaped session. She has formulated several research questions and hypotheses and will use the data we compiled to test them. From this experience I have learned coding methods and other research procedures. I have been provided with a way to discover how members in the Communication Studies field conduct research. Dr. Erlandson has also invited me to continue working with her in the fall as she begins to start testing the research questions and hypotheses. Looking at other various aspects of nonverbal communication involved in this study could help lead to an Elkin Issac presentation and hopefully a paper at a national conference.