Discourse analysis is the study of language as it is used in society through conversations or documents. It involves carefully examining talk and texts to understand how discourses construct objects and subjects. Discourse analysis focuses on the meaning of language rather than just its structure. There are several types of discourse analysis, including Foucauldian discourse analysis, critical discourse analysis, and discursive psychology. Foucauldian analysis examines how discourses shape understandings of reality. Critical discourse analysis critically analyzes language use and its role in social inequality. Discursive psychology focuses on discourse practices in natural settings and how psychology is constructed through language. Discourse analysis provides insights into how language shapes social and psychological phenomena.

1. SCHOOL OF GOVERNANCE & DEVELOPMENT STUDIES
MA in Development Management
Advanced Research Methods- Quantitative and qualitative (DVMT 523)
Willig, C (2014). Discourses and Discourse Analysis in ed. Flick, U (2014) The SAGE Handbook of
Qualitative Data Analysis, Los angels
Given, L.M (2008) The Sage Encyclopedia Qualitative Research Methods, Vol 1 & 2.SAGE
Publications, Inc, Los Angeles,
Shaw, E S., & Bailey, J. (2009). Discourse analysis: what is it and why is it relevant to family
practice? Family Practice, 26(5), 413–419. http://doi.org/10.1093/fampra/cmp038
Chapter Session 4.5 Discourse Analysis

2. What is discourse analysis ?
Discourse Analysis:
 is the study of language as it is used in society expressed either through
conversations or in documents
 involves the careful examination of talk and texts in order to trace the ways in
which discourses bring into being the objects and subjects of which they speak.
 refers to any instance of signification, or meaning-making, whether through oral or
written language or nonverbal means
 focuses primarily on the meaning of talk (or text) rather than on the linguistic
organization of the components of talk (e.g., grammar, sentence structure, word
choice)
 concerned with the ways in which language constructs and mediates social and
psychological realities.
 Discourse analytic studies encompass a broad range of theories, topics and analytic
approaches for explaining language in use. They ask ‘What is social life like?’ and
‘What are the implications for individuals and/or wider society?’

3. What is …
 language and interaction are best understood in context’ - insightful interpretation of data
involves understanding contexts such as local circumstances (e.g. setting, participants)
and/or wider discourses that shape language and interaction
 ‘social reality is socially constructed’ - Constructivists argue that all knowledge—including
taken-for-granted, common sense knowledge—is derived from and maintained by social
interactions
 discursive research ‘looks beyond the literal meanings of language- discourse analysis is not
interested in whether beliefs and attitudes are ‘true’, but is interested instead in the social
functions of talk (for example, the way that talking about thinking positive bonds members of
a group or moves discussions on from difficult topics). Meaning therefore depends upon the
context of an interaction,
 Discourse analysis involves looking beyond the literal meaning of language, understanding the
context in which social interaction takes place and exploring what was said, when and why.
 A common concern about discourse analysis is that study findings represent nothing more than
researchers’ opinions
 Discursive studies may take a critical perspective, for instance, exploring how different
groups achieve and maintain their status through their control of conversational encounters
and ‘systems of knowledge’

4. Use/Purpose of Discourse Analysis – use
 to analyze discourses in varieties of fields including psychology, sociology, linguistics,
political sciences.
 for better understanding of the social dimension of participants’ meaning-making
activities
 for better understanding of how the use of language (the choice of words, grammatical
constructions and various rhetorical strategies) is implicated in the construction of
particular versions of events.
 when concerned with the effects of discourse, with what discourse can do and, as a
result discursive research is primarily interested in discourse itself rather than in the
individuals who use it and whose speech or writing constitutes the data to be analyzed
 to understand the effects of discourse and in how particular ways of constructing
meaning through language enable or prevent, empower or constrain, action.
 discourse analysis is not interested in whether beliefs and attitudes are ‘true’, but is
interested instead in the social functions of talk (for example, the way that talking
about thinking positive bonds members of a group or moves discussions on from
difficult topics).

5. Types of Discourse Analysis
1. Foucauldian Discourse Analysis (FDA)
2. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)
3. Discursive Psychology (DP)

6. 1.Foucauldian Discourse Analysis (FDA)
Discourse according to Foucault
 conceptualized a ways of thinking and speaking about aspects of reality.
 operate to order reality in certain way
 offers the possibility of illuminating the effects of power
Discourse Analysis
 concerned with the availability of discursive repertoires and the social, cultural and historical
contexts within which particular ways of talking emerge.
 discourse analysts can go on to ask questions about how discourses may construct subjectivities
 Foucault described power as a network or a web that enables certain knowledge(s) to be
produced and known. Such power can also constrain what it is possible to know in certain
situations.


7. Fouculdian …
 it uses conventional data collection tools to generate texts - interview transcripts,
newspaper articles, observations, documents, or visual images
 the sample of texts would need to be justified in terms of why they were chosen, how
they were collected, and so on.
 the task of the discourse analyst is to make explicit the ways in which discourses
operate and their effects within particular contexts.
 Questions the researcher might ask:
• What rules permit certain statements to be made?
• What rules order these statements?
• What rules permit us to identify some statements as true and some as false?
• What rules allow for the construction of an explanatory map, model, or classificatory system
for this text?
 Foucault’s analysis, power is a productive concept; it is not simply repressive. Nor is
power a hierarchical concept, but rather it is an effect of socio-historic processes.

8. Fouculdian…
 Drawing on Foucauldian theoretical perspectives, discourse analysis thus
involves
 more than analyzing the content of texts for the ways in which they have
been structured in terms of syntax/grammer, semantics/meaning making,
and so forth.
 it is concerned with the way in which texts themselves have been
constructed, ordered, and shaped in terms of their social and historical
situatedness.
 texts are thus both product of and in turn, produce, discursive-based
understandings of aspects of reality.

9. Issues arising in FDA
 researchers will find that they are confronted by an ongoing tension between the text
and its context in terms of how much consideration needs to be given to the contexts in
which the written or visual texts are generated or from which they emanate
 researchers are in a position to impose meanings on another’s text. The position of the
researcher must therefore be made explicit throughout the research process. It is
important to take into consideration that researchers are also producers of discourse.
 analytic approaches to discourse often refer to partial or situated reality, viewing texts
as constructed by and in turn constructing understandings of reality rather than
describing the reality.

10. 2. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)
What is CDA?
 can be defined as being fundamentally interested in analyzing ambiguous/opaque as well
as transparent structural relationships of dominance, discrimination, power and control as
manifested in language
 a ‘critical’ approach to the analysis of discourse- particularly concerned with the ways in
which institutional discourses are implicated in the maintenance of power relations within
a society, for example by obscuring or mystifying power inequalities
 aims to investigate critically social inequality as it is expressed, constituted, legitimized
by language use (or in discourse)
 refers to any instance of signification, or meaning-making, whether through oral or written
language or nonverbal means. Most CDA analyses rely on written texts or transcripts of oral
interactions as data.
 in all its various forms understands itself to be strongly based in theory.
.

11. Key Tenets of CDA
 emphasis on interdisciplinarity- engagement with various theories - in all its various
forms understands itself to be strongly based in theory.
 discourse is assumed to be a central vehicle in the construction of social reality. Because
different ways of using language are thought to produce different social outcomes, close
attention to linguistic properties of texts can shed light on how different outcomes may
come about.
 involves critical perspective that is geared toward examining the subtle ways in which
unequal power relations are maintained and reproduced through language use.
 explicitly critical and political orientation to studying discourse
 Most CDA research operates within a moderate version of social constructivism that
acknowledges the enabling and constraining effects of existing structural arrangements.
 The goal is no longer linguistic description but rather an understanding of how
language-in use (discourse) contributes to and reproduces social inequality.
 Concepts such as globalization, power, ideology, and hegemony often figure in CDA
studies that attempt to capture the interconnections among discourse, power, and
social organization.

12. CDA application
 In politics, studies typically scrutinize speeches by key politicians or critique
documents published by government agencies, institutions, or international
organizations.
 Feminist researchers use CDA to produce illuminating analyses of gender-
based discriminatory practices in a variety of discourse genres

13. Critiques on CDA
 the most serious critique has questioned the assumptions of CDA research regarding the
relationship between linguistic form and social function. CDA claims that no linguistic form has
intrinsic or built in ideological function, yet analysts are able to “read off” the manipulative
intent of texts
 many critics have also raised the point that, given the analyst’s a priori critical and political
stance, the analyst is likely to find what he or she is looking for in a text.
 a lack of methodological rigor in data selection/elicitation and analysis that leaves too much
room for researcher bias to guide the research process

14. 3.Discursive psychology
 developed out of the constructionist tradition of DA
 the focus is on the way in which psychological issues become live in human practices.
 the focus is on discourse practices as they appear naturally in everyday and institutional settings.
 discursive psychology is distinct from the earlier tradition of discourse analysis in almost completely
abandoning open-ended interviews in favour of a focus on records of talk in natural settings
 starts with records of interaction in everyday and institutional settings rather than with interviews or
texts, and it has generated a very different vision of what psychology is to mainstream social and
cognitive psychology.
 put practices, rather than individual cognition, at the center of its analysis, and it has increasingly
drawn on the analytic rigor of conversation analysis to ground its claims.
 Discursive psychology is an approach that addresses psychological matters in terms of how they
figure in discourse – e.g.in conversations over family mealtimes, in therapy sessions, in witness
statements.

15. Principles of Discursive Psychology
Three principles
Action orientation -DP analyzes discourse as the primary means through which actions are done and
interaction is coordinated.
 Actions are seen as typically embedded in broader practices. This focus on action rather than
cognition differentiates it theoretically from cognitive psychology and underpins the analytic
focus on discourse rather than experimental comparisons of input and output.
Situation. DP treats discourse as situated in three complementary senses.
 organized sequentially
 situated institutionally - relevance of institutional identity (institutional - , client; task , assessing
trauma, offering advice)
 situated rhetorically
Construction - discourse understood as constructed and constructive
 discourse is constructive versions of the world, including versions of events and actions, settings and
structures, psychological entities and experiences
 DP studies both the actions done with these constructions and the way in which these constructions
are built to be stable, objective, and independent of the speaker.

16. Discursive Psychology application
 Notable research areas have included counseling and therapy talk, helpline
interaction, mediation, police interrogation, food, and interaction.
 At the same time, DP has offered new approaches to familiar social science
topics, such as race and gender, attitudes and scripts, social representations
and emotion,

17. Analytical approach
 A discursive analysis always starts with discourse
 Discourse analysts can go on to ask questions about how discourses may
construct subjectivities
 data - text (speech, writing, brail, etc.)
 Once a suitable text for analysis has been obtained, discourse analysis
proceeds by working through the text line by line

18. Key questions
One way of generating a discursive reading is to approach the data with a set of questions in
mind, and to interrogate each line of text as well as the text as a whole with the help of
these questions. Helpful questions with which to approach a text include the following (see
also Holt, 2011):
 What sorts of assumptions (about the world, about people) appear to underpin what is
being said and how it is being said?
 Could what is being said have been said differently without fundamentally changing the
meaning of what is being said? If so, how?
 What kind of discursive resources are being used to construct meaning here?
 What may be the potential consequences of the discourses that are used for those who
are positioned by them, in terms of both their subjective experience and their ability to
act in the world?

19. Epistemological orientation
 The epistemological position associated with discourse analytic research is social constructionism
 Here, the researcher adopts a relativist position whereby the data are of interest not because they
inform the researcher about ‘how things really are’ (e.g. what people are really thinking or
feeling, or what happened in a particular social context), but rather because they tell the
researcher something about how people construct meaning around events using the discursive
resources that are available to them.
 The researcher is not concerned with the truth value of what participants are telling him or her;
rather, the aim of the research is to generate an understanding of what people are doing when
they talk about something in a particular way.
 in discourse analysis the type of knowledge sought is not knowledge about the world itself or
knowledge about how things are experienced by research participants, but rather knowledge about
the process by which such ‘knowledge’ is constructed in the first place.
 assumption that all human experience is mediated by language and that all social and
psychological phenomena are discursively constructed in one way or another.
 researcher is interested on how socially available ways of talking about the phenomenon of
interest are deployed and what the consequences of this may be.

20. Limitations
 discourse analytic research focuses on the role of language in the
construction of social and psychological phenomena.
 it is concerned with the effects of discourse rather than with
human experience as such, and it constitutes a profoundly non-
cognitive form of social psychology..
 discourse analytic research has been criticized for privileging
discourse over ‘the person’ and for failing to theorize subjectivity
including our sense of self, intentionality, self-awareness
 its claim that the analysis draws on nothing outside of the text itself.
However, it could be argued that it is impossible to make sense of
what is going on in a text without importing ideas and concepts from
outside of it.

21. Limitation
 results of discourse analysis studies are often criticized for not
being generalizable. However, generalizability can be viewed as a
discursive construct that draws on particular understandings of
what it means to generalize
 From an ethical standpoint, one could question the acceptability
of analyzing research participants’ accounts through a discursive
lens when their accounts were provided in good faith with the
participants, assuming that the interviewer was genuinely
interested in the nature of their experiences rather than in how
they deployed discursive resources

22. Practical steps in discourse analysis
 Start with a general problem area.
 Undertake background reading about discourse analysis and about the topic you want to study (both within and outside of the
health/medical field).
 Seek advice and/or support from a social scientist with experience of discourse analysis (if this is not your area of expertise).
 Begin to focus your research questions, continuing to review and refine it/them throughout.
 Decide on the type of data you wish to study and collect data.
 Familiarize yourself with the data through repeated reading, watching and/or listening, asking questions of the data (such as ‘What
is the context for this interaction?’, ‘What is happening and why?’) and begin to note interesting features.
 Transcribe any spoken data you might have collected, paying close attention to detail.
 Index for analytic themes and discursive features. Look for patterns.
 Make analytic notes as you go along, using paper and pen and/or a computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software package
(such as NVIVO or Atlas.ti).
 Test intuitive hunches against the data, being critical and looking for counter examples.
 Discuss your emerging analysis with colleagues, especially those from other disciplines.
 Start writing preliminary analyses, moving between writing, reading and analysing.
 Continue redrafting analyses, being prepared to return to earlier steps as needed.
Shaw, E S., & Bailey, J. (2009). Discourse analysis: what is it and why is it relevant to family practice? Family Practice, 26(5), 413–419.
http://doi.org/10.1093/fampra/cmp038

23. Examples
1. How exactly do members or institutions of dominant white groups talk
And write about ethnic or racial minorities?
2. What do such structures and strategies of discourse tell us about under
lying ethnic or racial prejudices, ideologies, or other social cognitions
About minorities?
3. What are the social, political, and cultural contexts and functions of such
discourse about minorities? In particular, what role does this discours