Visual and Discourse Analysis

Question 1

Visual analysis

Answer 1

• an analysis of visual artifacts that are located within a sociological and cultural context

Question 2

What are some visual texts?

Answer 2

• photographs
• films
• bodies
• sculptures
• buildings

Question 3

Psychoanalytic theory

Answer 3

• analyzing and deconstructing specific scenes in films to extrapolate meaning from the mise en scene
• Laura Mulvey’s work on the ‘male gaze’ in films is a good example of this type of research

Question 4

semiotic analysis

Answer 4

• relies more on researcher interpretation than on objective and generalizability
• based on the view than an image is derived from its interrelation to other images

Question 5

discourse analysis

Answer 5

• used by researchers who are interested in the intention of image producers as well as the multiple readings made up of consumers
• critical discourse analysis might look at how language or images comment on societal power issues

Question 6

photo elicitation

Answer 6

• a way to use images in conjunction with other methods

- it is most commonly used in the context of focus groups or interviews

Question 7

memory work

Answer 7

• has roots in photo elicitation but involves a different process
• it is used to encourage autobiographical reconstruction

Question 8

visual and discourse analysis ethical considerations

Answer 8

• questions of confidentiality, anonymity, and consent are complicated and the researcher must be extra responsible to fulfill these ethical requirements when using photos in research

Question 9

discourse analysis

Answer 9

• the method for studying the use of language in social contexts
• provides insights into how speech and text help shape and reproduce social meanings and forms of knowledge

Question 10

what is discourse?

Answer 10

• refers to a single utterance or speech act (a fragment of talk) or it can refer to a systemic ordering of language involving certain rules, terminology, and conventions (legal or medical discourse)

Question 11

Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)

Answer 11

• CDA is concerned with the social and political context of discourse and is based on the view that language is not only conditioned by these contexts but helps constitute them

Question 12

data selection is often determined by how a researcher is defining the issue:

Answer 12

• policy
• identity
• media representations
• public attitudes

Question 13

agency

Answer 13

• refers to who is seen as active or passive in producing the problems, processes or solutions described

Question 14

nominalisation

Answer 14

• the use of nouns instead of verbs to describe events

Question 15

passivation

Answer 15

• the use of the passive voice can obscure agency