MSc in Social Research Methods 2005 Discourse Analysis

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MSc in Social Research Methods 2005Discourse
Analysis

• Lecture 5Review of problems of Discourse
  Analysis.
• Writing up Discourse Analysis.

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Learning outcomes

• By the end of this weeks lecture and workshop, a
  successful student will be able to
• Evaluate the usefulness of discourse analysis as
  an approach to research in terms of both its
  practical and theoretical advantages and
  disadvantages
• Describe how a discourse analytic study might be
  written up
• Explain the criteria for the selection of data
  for presentation in such a write-up

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Critique and limitations of discourse analysis

• Practical issues

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Critique and limitations of discourse analysis

• Practical issues
• Getting data may not be easy

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Critique and limitations of discourse analysis

• Practical issues
• Getting data may not be easy
• Transcription

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Critique and limitations of discourse analysis

• Practical issues
• Getting data may not be easy
• Transcription
• Labour intensity of reading selection

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Critique and limitations of discourse analysis

• Practical issues
• Getting data may not be easy
• Transcription
• Labour intensity of reading selection
• Word-count

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2. Critique and limitations of discourse analysis

• Conceptual/theoretical issues

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2. Critique and limitations of discourse analysis

• Conceptual/theoretical issues
• Is DA appropriate for your research question(s)?

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2. Critique and limitations of discourse analysis

• Conceptual/theoretical issues
• Is DA appropriate for your research question(s)?
• Are the discourses/repertoires you identified
  discrete?

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2. Critique and limitations of discourse analysis

• Conceptual/theoretical issues
• Is DA appropriate for your research question(s)?
• Are the discourses/repertoires you identified
  discrete?
• The varieties of DA and analytic categories can
  be confusing

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2. Critique and limitations of discourse analysis

• Conceptual/theoretical issues
• Is DA appropriate for your research question(s)?
• Are the discourses/repertoires you identified
  discrete?
• The varieties of DA and analytic categories can
  be confusing
• A certain level of (topic-specific) scholarship
  may be necessary

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2. Critique and limitations of discourse analysis

• Conceptual/theoretical issues
• Is DA appropriate for your research question(s)?
• Are the discourses/repertoires you identified
  discrete?
• The varieties of DA and analytic categories can
  be confusing
• A certain level of (topic-specific) scholarship
  may be necessary
• DA doesnt allow for the usual kind of claims
  about universal processes

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2. Critique and limitations of discourse analysis

• Conceptual/theoretical issues
• Discursive Psychology implies subjects (via
  functionality) but avoids theorizing that
  subjectivity

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2. Critique and limitations of discourse analysis

• Conceptual/theoretical issues
• Discursive Psychology implies subjects (via
  functionality) but avoids theorizing that
  subjectivity
• Foucauldian DA implies that the subject is a mere
  bearer of discourses

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2. Critique and limitations of discourse analysis

• Conceptual/theoretical issues
• Discursive Psychology implies subjects (via
  functionality) but avoids theorizing that
  subjectivity
• Foucauldian DA implies that the subject is a mere
  bearer of discourses
• Treating DA as a theory-free method

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2. Critique and limitations of discourse analysis

• Conceptual/theoretical issues
• Discursive Psychology implies subjects (via
  functionality) but avoids theorizing that
  subjectivity
• Foucauldian DA implies that the subject is a mere
  bearer of discourses
• Treating DA as a theory-free method
• Relativism

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2. Critique and limitations of discourse analysis

• Conceptual/theoretical issues
• Discursive Psychology implies subjects (via
  functionality) but avoids theorizing that
  subjectivity
• Foucauldian DA implies that the subject is a mere
  bearer of discourses
• Treating DA as a theory-free method
• Relativism
• The focus on the pointing finger rather than what
  the finger is pointing at

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Hammersley-Potter debate (2003)

• H Potters version of DA is guilty of
  ontological gerrymandering
• E.g., uses a (realist) history of New Zealand
  as a resource to help explain the data (Wetherell
  Potter, 1992) 
• Uses an implicit predefined model of the human
  actor (homo rhetoricus), yet rejects others use
  of such models as going beyond the data.
•  
• Potter these are not actually being used to
  explain they are topic not resource.

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Presenting Discourse Analysis

• Moment of analysis
• versus
• moment of presentation
• Introduction
• Methods
• Results (Analysis)
• Discussion

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• Presenting the Results
• organization
• data selection criteria
• Range
• Sufficiency

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Transcription conventions
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• 1. NIGEL Okay yeah tell me about going with
  four people in one night
• 2. PHIL all right bangs table
• 3. AARON oh no
• 4. PHIL go on
• 5. PAUL on the record
• 6. PHIL was it was it this ( )
• 7. AARON I don't know I was a bit drunk
• 8. PHIL I I'll tell he was drunk I'd tell
  you what I know because I am never drunk
• 9. NIGEL Hm mm
• 10. PHIL because I'm dead smug erm
• 11. AARON he's never drunk it's true
• 12. PHIL Friday you went with Janesy on
  Friday

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• ? When material has been edited out of the
  transcript, it is signalled with an empty pair of
  square brackets, thus .
• ? Where information has been supplied to the
  text, it is put in square brackets like this.
  E.g., sic, ICI

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Summary

• Practical problems of DA include the
  labour-intensity of gathering, transcribing and
  reading texts.
• Theoretical or conceptual problems of DA include
  the inability to make generalizations, the issue
  of theorizing the subject or agent in relation to
  discourse, and the danger of relativism.

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4. Summary

• Presentational issues background to your data
  and the organization of what you present.
• Presentational criteria include the range of
  constructions and sufficiency.
• Since some editing is almost inevitable,
  you need to adopt and specify some editing
  conventions.