Culture & Psychology 2015, Vol. 21(1) 95–110 ! The Author(s) 2015 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1354067X15570488 cap.sagepub.com Article Parent–teacher meetings as a unit of analysis for parent–teacher interactions Francesca Giovanna Maria Gastaldi University of Turin, Turin, Italy Claudio Longobardi University of Turin, Turin, Italy Rocco Quaglia University of Turin, Turin, Italy Michele Settanni University of Turin, Turin, Italy Abstract The attempt to establish the decisive factors in psychological research, from an idiographic perspective, firstly involves examining the meanings entailed in this epis- temological paradigm. Specifically, our work sets out to assess the possibilities of using this perspective with reference to parent–teacher relationships, as expressed through parent–teacher meetings. Said meetings present their own specific features which distinguish them from all the other kinds of meetings examined in literature (clinical, orientational, educational). Since many studies on this subject (parent–teacher commu- nications; parent–teacher meetings, parent–teacher relationships) have focused mostly on the conversational aspects, it seemed time for a deeper theoretical and methodo- logical examination of the specific characteristics of this instrument. Parent–teacher meetings have some particular features that make them a possible subject of idiographic analysis: firstly, it is a phenomenon that occurs at the dynamic meeting point between the life experiences of different individuals, brought together by their shared focus on the same matter of interest. Here we intend to describe, from a theoretical point of view, parent–teacher meetings as a relevant object of study and a possible context for future interventions. Corresponding author: Claudio Longobardi, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Po 14, 10123 Torino, Italy. Email: claudio.longobardi@unito.it at Univ Studi Torino on July 4, 2016 cap.sagepub.com Downloaded from