Rebuttal essay: MADELEINE MATHIOT.

This article presents the reply of the author on comments about her research on face-to-face interaction. The author's stated goal is to account for/explain behavior in face-to-face interaction from the standpoint of the meanings attributed to this behavior by the participants themselves. Reactions to the stated goal was given. The author explained that her stated goal is unambiguously restrictive. It specifies what is within the scope of the theory and what is outside of it. In other words, the theory is not all-encompassing. According to the author, there are many aspects of human behavior that are not accounted for simply because the theory does not attempt to do so and not because the author consider such aspects as unworthy of theoretical consideration. Orders of comments pertinent to the stated goal of the theory but outside the focus of the paper include, comments relating to the literature, requests for a specification of the relation of theory and method, and requests for a detailed description of the technique. From the author's view, the process of building an empirically based theory of human behavior is a topic of inquiry for the social scientist that deserves consideration.