ARM - week 4

Question 1

what do qualitative researches study?

Answer 1

“Qualitative Researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or interpret, phenomena in terms of meaning people bring to them”

Question 2

What, How and Why

Answer 2

• What meaning people ascribe to things (happenings)
• How they behave and interact in particular settings (practices)
• Why they behave and interact in particular ways (reasons)

Question 3

discourse analysis:

Answer 3

The study and analysis of the uses of language → mundane conversations, speeches and debates, policy texts and reports, organizational documents, content on social media.

Question 4

Discourse analyses in healthcare offer new opportunities to research

Answer 4

• Changing roles of patients and doctors → shared decision making
• Changing views on illness and positive health
• Justifications of healthcare reforms → decentralizations, regulated market competition
• Shifting power relations in the field of healthcare management
• Dealing with crises

Question 5

different forms of discourse analyses

Answer 5

1. formal linguistic discourse analyses
2. empirical/ conversation discourse analyses
3. critical discourse analyses
4. micro discourse
5. meso discourse
6. grand discourse
7. mega discourse

Question 6

formal linguistic discourse analyses

Answer 6

Studying text to discover grammatical and linguistic rules.

Question 7

empirical/ conversation discourse analyses

Answer 7

Studying natural occurring talk ‘in interaction’ to understand social practice.

Question 8

critical discourse analyses

Answer 8

Studying ‘macro’ discourses to understand the reproduction of power.

Question 9

micro discourse (small d)

Answer 9

Detailed study of text itself without wanting to make broader claims beyond the text.

Question 10

meso discourse analysis (average d)

Answer 10

Studying language use to understand broader social practices.

Question 11

grand discourse (big d)

Answer 11

Studying assemblages of discourses that structure organizational reality.

Question 12

mega discourse (biggest d)

Answer 12

Studying universal discourses that structure human reality and the way we view the world.

Question 13

When moving from micro discourse to macro discourse

Answer 13

• The broader the definition of discourse gets → the narrow definition of discourse entails just the text and the broad definition of discourse not only entails language, but also cognition, behavior and intuitions.
• Discourse is no longer describing reality as it is, but the discourse is shaping reality → the social reality is determined by discourse (internalized discourses, for example in healthcare, really shapes how we talk about and how we view healthcare).
• The more you make generalizing statements beyond the text itself about social relations work and how we view the world.
• The more you need to build on multiple sources of data → not just text and conversations, but also policy documents, debates in the media, historical sources.

Question 14

discourse determination

Answer 14

means that the discourse determines how we behave and think → there is a close connection between the discourse and social reality.

Question 15

discourse autonomy

Answer 15

means that the discourse does not determine how we behave and think → there is a loose connection between the discourse and social reality.

Question 16

What makes a discourse analysis critical?

Answer 16

• Focus on how power relations and inequality are reproduced via text and talk
• Focus on who benefits and who doesn’t
• Focus on what is not being said in the text → key silences

Question 16

• Don’ts in discourse analyses

Answer 16

o Just making a summary of text/talk, but not specifying underlying assumptions or relationships between arguments (under analysis)
o Quoting too much or cherry-picking ‘juicy quotes’ (under analysis)
o Ignoring the diversity of language by imposing a macro discourse
o Jumping over language to make broader statements ate an aggregate level → when you only analyze 1 text and you make generalizations about how the world works on just this text
o Analyzing only one side of the conversation and ignoring the other side

Question 16

• Do’s in discourse analyses

Answer 16

o Be specific about the scope of your discourse analysis → micro, meso, macro
o Make your own analysis of the text and talk within a particular context
o Coding of texts
o Also focus on what is not being said (key silences)
o Describe the consequences of discursive framings if there are any
o Turn taking → analyzing both sides of the conversation