4.4　Coding

This process resembles the coding in content analysis in that numbers were used to label the tactics and mark each language pattern where and when it occurs in the transcript.I created a coding sheet with all the tactics labeled one through ten.In the Chinese transcripts, the identified language patterns were marked with their corresponding tactic number.In the end, the categorization scheme was revised, and the ten tactics were collapsed into three general strategies.The categorization standard is whether the tactic is characteristic of Chinese mediation or not.This is to ask whether the tactic has a clear tendency to persuade because having a clear agenda and plan is an underlying principle for Chinese mediation.If the answer is yes, it is put into the first category of tactics; if the answer is no, then two further options are available to describe the mediator’s purpose.One is that he/she adopted the tactic to alleviate the adversity; the other is that he/she was trying to encourage a compromise between the disputing parties.Because most cases are long (more than one hour’s recording), some language patterns could appear multiple times within one case, in this way, there were enough examples within the ten cases to demonstrate each tactic fully.This method allowed for the development of three categories for “general language strategies”as well as subsections in each category for tactics used in the recorded mediation sessions.(https://www.daowen.com)