Missing Responses as an Interactional Warning Sign

In this study, we aim to find out what happens in moments of collaborative situations when a response is treated as missing, irrelevant, or insufficient, how such moments are handled, and what underlying interactional trouble those instances can reveal. The data are video recordings from multinational military observer training. Using the method of ethnomethodological conversation analysis (EMCA), we examine a team of two people taking part in a simulated patrolling exercise. We focus on instances when one team member, the driver, attempts to get the other, the team leader, to verbalise or confirm some decision regarding a future (joint) action.