Qualitative Data Analysis – Discourse analysis Flashcards
What is Discourse Analysis?
Discourse is a process of meaning-making through talk and text
It is ‘the study of how meanings are produced, and of which meanings prevail in society’.
It is concerned with processes of social construction (i.e., meaning-making) through the study of language and language-use.
Is discourse analysis good for capturing attitudinal data?
Discourse analysis does not lend itself to the study of aspects that are not easily gathered or represented through language. Hence, discourse analysis is often not the best means for capturing attitudinal data.
Is discourse analysis good for capturing social interaction?
Yes.
mention the different Levels of Discursive Engagement.
Discourse analysis operates at different levels ranging from a micro-focus on the ‘fine grain’ use of language through to a macro-emphasis on the ‘big picture’ of perspectives and ideologies.
Four versions of discourse analysis:
o (1) the micro-discourse approach.
o (2) the meso-discourse approach.
o (3) the grand discourse approach.
o (4) the mega-discourse approach.
Discursive work that is more macro-oriented tends to draw upon philosophy, politics, history and social theory.
By contrast, the interest in micro-oriented discourse analysis has developed out of the socio-linguistic tradition and, in particular, ethnomethodology.
Meso-level typically involves a process of extrapolating from a cluster of situated texts or discerning patterns of emergent themes.
What paradigm does discourse analysis follow?
Positivist: DA positioned as a means to establish a coherent reality or an uncontested truth (i.e. a single meaning)
Critical: forms of DA that draw attention to the contested nature of meaning and the conversational exercise of power.
Poststructuralist: engages with multiple interpretations of reality and the indeterminacy of meaning.
What techniques can be used for discourse analysis?
deconstruction,
Foucauldian-inspired analysis,
critical discourse analysis
intertextual analysis.
What is Deconstruction?
Deconstruction can be described as micro-level discursive technique since it involves a ‘close reading’ of a single text.
It is opposing to positivist forms of discourse analysis and is instead predisposed to critical and/or poststructural modes of engagement.
some points of common focus for the deconstructive process include:
- identifying binary oppositions (e.g. points of contradiction or opposition);
- a consideration of the examples used (e.g. in terms of partiality or representativeness);
- issues of absence and presence within the text (e.g. what is included and what is excluded);
- aspects of hierarchical ordering;
- discrepancies within the text.
What is Foucauldian-Inspired Analysis?
Foucauldian-inspired analysis explores ‘how discursive practices constitute both objectivities (social institutions, knowledge) and subjectivities (identities and actions)’.
This form of engagement remains relatively broad and abstract as it is not aimed at a detailed analysis of texts.
Foucauldian-style discourse analysis centres on the study of ‘discursive formations’. This involves the identification, contemplation, and articulation of the abstract semantic features of a discourse and/or sets of abstract linguistic themes.
What is Critical Discourse Analysis?
Critical discourse analysis (CDA) explicitly embraces a ‘critical’ epistemology and it challenges the delineation of macro-, meso- and micro-levels of discursive engagement.
CDA is positioned as an approach in which a discursive event is seen as being three dimensional since it is ‘simultaneously a piece text, an instance of discursive practice, and an instance of social practice’
CDA seeks to establish connections between different levels of discursive aggregation and different levels of analysis.
Ultimately, CDA is concerned with issues of power and ideology, and it is particularly suited to forms of discursive inquiry that seek to address how local texts are influenced by wider contextual factors and vice versa.
What is Intertextual Analysis?
Intertextuality can be described as being concerned with the extent to which a given text has embedded within it elements of other texts.
It focuses upon identifying, analyzing, and synthesizing from parts of a focal text in terms of the earlier sources and other voices, which are either implicitly or explicitly incorporated and presented within that text.
Given that intertextual analysis initially focuses on the actual content of a text, it could be described as a micro-level approach. However, because it is concerned with the interpenetration and/or interrelationship of a text with other texts, it is perhaps more appropriate to think of intertextual analysis as a meso-level approach.
Is discourse analysis suitable for semi-structured interviews?
Discourse analysis of a transcript of a semi-structured interview can be problematic, because if discourse is about meaning making it is difficult to step back and analyze meaning from a conversation where the analyst has co-constructed the meaning.
The overriding implication is that data that are to be analyzed through discourse analysis should be gathered in a non-participatory way.
