Positioning Microanalysis: The Development of a Dialogically Based Method for Idiographic Psychology

A dialogical perspective entails a relational stance on human beings and their meaning-making activities, which demands the development of specific and adequate methods. To attain this coherence between theory and method, we have been developing a specific method, called Positioning Microanalysis, whose goals are to depict personal positions and the global dynamics of the self throughout time. The procedures of Positioning Microanalysis are based on consensual discussions between a pair of judges, whose analysis is later reviewed by an external auditor. This process involves several sequential turns of analysis-auditing until a final agreement is achieved. The analysis itself is based on the division of transcribed discourse activities into small meaning units, called “response units.” For each of these units, the judges have to label the position assumed by the person according to the basic dialogical triad: