Human communication research has identified and tested numerous aspects of interpersonal transactions, but at present there exists no empirically verifiable data as to how people end these transactions. This study is concerned with the rhetoric of goodbye--determining and assessing the peculiar behaviors, both verbal and non-verbal, with which…

Discusses how assumptions of methodology rigidly restrict theory testing in the area of sequential analysis of social interaction. Assumptions explored center on three aspects of process: coding schemes, the nature of time, and the quality of explanations engendered by sequential analysis methodologies. (JMF)

The historical independence of expert power and opinion leadership research and theorizing is noted, with the major credit for the separateness being attributed to differences in methodological approach usually taken in the two areas of research. A theoretical attempt to relate the two areas is make by relating: (1) the general areas of social…