Chapter Four　Methodology

This chapter is organized into three sections. The first section introduces how the data are collected, including the data source and the description of the data sets in the present study. The second section describes how the data are analyzed, including the identification and extraction of advising acts from the data sets, the method adopted to analyze identity construction, the linguistic variables for identity construction in verbal communication, the theoretical basis of and criteria for classifying identities constructed in institutional interactions, and the contextual correlates of identity construction in academic advising interaction. The last section summarizes the main contents of this chapter.