Coding communication in consultation: Accurate, reliable, and efficient analysis

Given the importance of consultation in school psychology practice, more research is needed to examine the types of interpersonal communication through which consultation is effective. This study revisited Erchul and Schulte (1990), which investigated the amount of transcription and coding of consultation sessions required for reliable and accurate estimates of particular consultation communication variables. Using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count, this study examined tone, interrogatives, clout, affect, and use of the 1st-person plural pronoun within the instructional consultation, assessment, and teaming process. Results partially aligned with Erchul and Schulte in that tone, interrogatives, and clout could be reliably and accurately assessed by analyzing 1 complete consultation session or segments of 2 sessions. Affect and pronoun use could not be reliably and accurately measured by sampling segments of consultation sessions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).