How Reflections Work in Transformative Mediation Intake Phone Calls

• In Event: Research in Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis: Interactions in Institutional Settings II

Abstract

In this paper we conduct a conversation analytic study of the use of the “reflection” technique in mediator intake phone calls for a program that uses a transformative approach to mediation.
The purpose of this paper is to discover how mediators are doing reflection work in these data, and the extent to which their reflections follow the training and theory of Transformative Mediation (TM) programs. The data for this pilot study are 10 intake phone calls which were routinely recorded by a transformative mediation program for training purposes. The redacted audio recordings were transcribed using the conventions of conversation analysis. Our preliminary analysis of the data identified over 100 potential reflections. We are using conversation analysis to explore how mediators construct and use reflections in these data, as well as the locations at which they are placed and how the potential client responds to them. Our preliminary analysis of the data suggests that mediators use a variety of techniques to respond to client’s turns, some of which are consistent with the TM perspective on reflection, and others which are closer to the paraphrasing type of reflection typically used in facilitative mediation. In addition, our preliminary analysis suggests that in these dyadic intake phone calls the impact of the reflection may differ from those produced in multi-party interactions such as mediation sessions or meetings studied previously.

Authors

• Angela Cora Garcia, Bentley University

• Erik Cleven, St. Anselm College