This paper presents our experiences with qualitative analysis of interactional episodes in groups of children. Several aspects and steps of qualitative analyses of videorecorded episodes are focused: The framing of interactional flows to select the fragments to be analyzed, the division of an episode into its component parts and the transcription and analysis of episodes. We explore several ways of working with episodes with a qualitative approach, depending on the questions focused and on the aims of the analysis: a conceptual development; the analysis of component elements of a focused process; or aiming to illustrate an argument with empirical data. This differentiation led to another one: a reflection on the level of descriptive detail adequate to different aims of analysis and communication. We finally present our experiences regarding different forms of visual displays of qualitative data for written or oral presentations.
Qualitative methodology; child-child interaction; analysis of interactional episodes
