Lag Sequential Analysis in Social Work Research and Practice

Lag sequential analysis (LSA) is a data analysis procedure that preserves the sequential nature of interactional data. An illustration of how LSA could be used by a practitioner or researcher is provided. Finally, the potential benefits of LSA for social workers is discussed. Interpersonal behavior is a common focus of social work research and practice. How parents respond to their child's temper tantrums, how spouses communicate when trying to resolve a relationship con-flict, and how a practitioner and client negotiate a service contract are examples of interpersonal behaviors of interest to social workers. What the behaviors share is an interaction over time. Each behav-ior constitutes a link in a sequential chain of actions and responses. Over time, ac-tions and responses may exhibit regular-ities or characteristic patterns. Detecting patterns can provide useful information toward understanding, predicting, and changing interpersonal behavior. Until recently, methods to analyze the sequential nature of interpersonal behavior were not generally available. Researchers either have ignored sequen-tial issues or have limited analyses to nonsequential measurements of in-dividual behaviors. Thus, interaction was described in terms of differences in behavior frequencies or rates (Jacob