Discourse Analysis & Qualitative Research Reporting

Week 8: Discourse Analysis and Qualitative Reporting

Discourse Analysis

Discourse analysis is an umbrella term that borrows from all the other methods of analysis presented before.

It is useful when the research uses texts that are reproducing the social order. Critically question what this social order consists of and who benefits from it (injustice or problems). Keep an eye out for what is not included in the text.

Discourse: A particular way of thinking about a topic.

How to do Discourse Analysis:

Close reading and analysis of the text:

• Semantic layer (the meaning of words, phrases, etc., but also the use of figures of speech such as metaphors or personifications).
• Syntactic layer (structure of sentences and phrases) / argumentative layer (arguments or logic underpinning the text).
• Performative layer (what is being done by saying something).

Black box: The reader cannot follow how the researcher moved from the data to the findings.

• Transparent protocol for analysis: Which aspects of the text will the researcher consider.
• Detailed exemplification: In-depth analysis of a few relevant quotes from the text.

Tips for Using Discourse Analysis:

• Map out the wider context of the topic.
• Focus on the role of power.
• Pay attention to how discourses are internalized.

Reporting Qualitative Research

Four Sources of Writing Tension:

1. Qualitative researchers are always writing

   Ongoing part of research → proposal, literature, interviews, field notes. Iterative nature of qualitative research.

2. Writing is a method of inquiry

   Writing demonstrates and reflects on the ways we create, reproduce, and transform social realities.

3. Be sensitive about writing

   Reflexivity needed.

4. Writing reactivates multiple identities

   Participants in the research should be accurately represented.

Types of Audience:

1. Area specialists → focused directly on the topic researched.
2. General disciplinary readers → basic knowledge on the topic and approach.
3. Human science readers → how the research informs their own research or thinking on a completely different subject.
4. Action-oriented readers → interested in the applicability of the findings to a particular setting.
5. General readers → friends and family that decide to read your thesis.

Shifts in Criterion and Trustworthiness:

1. Credibility
2. Transferability
3. Dependability
4. Confirmability