Discourse Analysis In

Qualitative Research
By Dr. Aftab Hussain
 What is discourse analysis?
• Let’s start with the word “discourse”.
• In its simplest form, discourse is verbal or written communication between people
that goes beyond a single sentence. Importantly, discourse is more than just language.
• The term “language” can include all forms of linguistic and symbolic units (even things
such as road signs), and language studies can focus on the individual meanings of
words.
• Discourse goes beyond this and looks at the overall meanings conveyed by language in
context.  
• “Context” here refers to the social, cultural, political, and historical background of the
discourse, and it is important to take this into account to understand underlying
meanings expressed through language.
Discourse Analysis
• Critical discourse analysis (or discourse analysis) is a research method for
studying written or spoken language in relation to its social context. It aims to
understand how language is used in real life situations.

• When you conduct discourse analysis, you might focus on:

• The purposes and effects of different types of language

• Cultural rules and conventions in communication
• How values, beliefs and assumptions are communicated
• How language use relates to its social, political and historical context
Cont…
• As Wodak and Krzyżanowski (2008) put it: “discourse analysis provides a general
framework to problem-oriented social research”. Basically, discourse analysis is
used to conduct research on the use of language in context in a wide variety of
social problems (i.e., issues in society that affect individuals negatively).
• For example, discourse analysis could be used to assess how language is used to
express differing viewpoints on financial inequality and would look at how the
topic should or shouldn’t be addressed or resolved, and whether this so-called
inequality is perceived as such by participants.
• What makes discourse analysis unique is that it posits that social reality is
socially constructed, or that our experience of the world is understood from a
subjective standpoint. Discourse analysis goes beyond the literal meaning of
words and languages
What is discourse analysis used for?
• Conducting discourse analysis means examining how language functions and how meaning
is created in different social contexts. It can be applied to any instance of written or oral
language, as well as non-verbal aspects of communication such as tone and gestures.
• Materials that are suitable for discourse analysis include:
• Books, newspapers and periodicals
• Marketing material, such as brochures and advertisements
• Business and government documents
• Websites, forums, social media posts and comments
• Interviews and conversations
• By analyzing these types of discourse, researchers aim to gain an understanding of social
groups and how they communicate.
How is discourse analysis different from
other methods?
• Unlike linguistic approaches that focus only on the rules of language
use, discourse analysis emphasizes the contextual meaning of
language.
• It focuses on the social aspects of communication and the ways
people use language to achieve specific effects (e.g. to build trust, to
create doubt, to evoke emotions, or to manage conflict).
• Instead of focusing on smaller units of language, such as sounds,
words or phrases, discourse analysis is used to study larger chunks of
language, such as entire conversations, texts, or collections of texts.
The selected sources can be analyzed on multiple levels.
Critical discourse analysis
Level of communication What is analyzed?
Vocabulary Words and phrases can be analyzed for ideological associations,
formality, and euphemistic and metaphorical content.

Grammar The way that sentences are constructed (e.g., verb tenses, active or
passive construction, and the use of imperatives and questions)
can reveal aspects of intended meaning.

Structure The structure of a text can be analyzed for how it creates emphasis
or builds a narrative.
Genre Texts can be analyzed in relation to the conventions and
communicative aims of their genre (e.g., political speeches or
tabloid newspaper articles).
Non-verbal communication Non-verbal aspects of speech, such as tone of voice, pauses,
gestures, and sounds like “um”, can reveal aspects of a speaker’s
intentions, attitudes, and emotions.
Conversational codes The interaction between people in a conversation, such as turn-
taking, interruptions and listener response, can reveal aspects of
cultural conventions and social roles.
Discourse Analysis: The main approaches
• There are two main approaches to discourse analysis. These are
the language-in-use (also referred to as socially situated text and talk)
approaches and the socio-political approaches (most
commonly Critical Discourse Analysis). Let’s take a look at each of
these.
Approach #1: Language-in-use
• Language-in-use approaches focus on the finer details of language
used within discourse, such as sentence structures (grammar) and
phonology (sounds). This approach is very descriptive and is seldom
seen outside of studies focusing on literature and/or linguistics.
• Because of its formalist roots, language-in-use pays attention to
different rules of communication, such as grammaticality (i.e., when
something “sounds okay” to a native speaker of a language). Analyzing
discourse through a language-in-use framework involves identifying
key technicalities of language used in discourse and investigating how
the features are used within a particular social context.
• For example, English makes use of affixes (for example, “un” in
“unbelievable”) and suffixes (“able” in “unbelievable”) but doesn’t
typically make use of infixes (units that can be placed within other
words to alter their meaning). However, an English speaker may say
something along the lines of, “that’s un-flipping-believable”. From a
language-in-use perspective, the infix “flipping” could be investigated
by assessing how rare the phenomenon is in English, and then
answering questions such as, “What role does the infix play?” or
“What is the goal of using such an infix?”
Approach #2: Socio-political
• Socio-political approaches to discourse analysis look beyond the technicalities of
language and instead focus on the influence that language has in social context, and
vice versa. One of the main socio-political approaches is Critical Discourse Analysis,
which focuses on power structures (for example, the power dynamic between a
teacher and a student) and how discourse is influenced by society and culture.
Critical Discourse Analysis is born out of Michel Foucault’s early work on power,
which focuses on power structures through the analysis of normalized power.
• Normalized power is ingrained and relatively allusive. It’s what makes us exist within
society (and within the underlying norms of society, as accepted in a specific social
context) and do the things that we need to do. Contrasted to this, a more obvious
form of power is repressive power, which is power that is actively asserted.
Sounds a bit fluffy? Let’s look at an
example.
• Consider a situation where a teacher threatens a student with detention if
they don’t stop speaking in class. This would be an example of repressive
power (i.e. it was actively asserted).
• Normalized power, on the other hand, is what makes us not want to talk in
class. It’s the subtle clues we’re given from our environment that tell us
how to behave, and this form of power is so normal to us that we don’t
even realize that our beliefs, desires, and decisions are being shaped by it.
• In the view of Critical Discourse Analysis, language is power and, if we want
to understand power dynamics and structures in society, we must look to
language for answers. In other words, analyzing the use of language can
help us understand the social context, especially the power dynamics.
• While the above-mentioned approaches are the two most popular approaches
to discourse analysis, other forms of analysis exist. For example, ethnography-
based discourse analysis and multimodal analysis. Ethnography-based discourse
analysis aims to gain an insider understanding of culture, customs, and habits
through participant observation (i.e. directly observing participants, rather than
focusing on pre-existing texts).

• On the other hand, multimodal analysis focuses on a variety of texts that are
both verbal and nonverbal (such as a combination of political speeches and
written press releases). So, if you’re considering using discourse analysis,
familiarize yourself with the various approaches available so that you can make a
well-informed decision.
How to conduct discourse analysis
• Discourse analysis is a qualitative and interpretive method of
analyzing texts (in contrast to more systematic methods like content
analysis). You make interpretations based on both the details of the
material itself and on contextual knowledge.
• There are many different approaches and techniques you can use to
conduct discourse analysis, but the steps below outline the basic
structure you need to follow. Following these steps can help you avoid
pitfalls of confirmation bias that can cloud your analysis.
Step 1: Define the research question and
select the content of analysis
• To do discourse analysis, you begin with a clearly defined research
question. Once you have developed your question, select a range of
material that is appropriate to answer it.

• Discourse analysis is a method that can be applied both to large

volumes of material and to smaller samples, depending on the aims
and timescale of your research.
• You want to study how a particular regime change
from dictatorship to democracy has affected the
public relations rhetoric(the art of effective or
persuasive speaking or writing) of businesses in
the country. You decide to examine the mission
statements and marketing material of the 10
largest companies within five years of the regime
change.
Step 2: Gather information and theory on
the context

• Next, you must establish the social and historical context in which the
material was produced and intended to be received. Gather factual
details of when and where the content was created, who the author
is, who published it, and whom it was disseminated to.

• As well as understanding the real-life context of the discourse, you

can also conduct a literature review on the topic and construct
a theoretical framework to guide your analysis.
• You research factual information on the politics
and history of the country and on the businesses
you are studying. You also research theory on
democratic transitions and the relationship
between government and business.
Step 3: Analyze the content for themes and
patterns
• This step involves closely examining various elements of the material
– such as words, sentences, paragraphs, and overall structure – and
relating them to attributes, themes, and patterns relevant to your
research question.
• You analyze the selected material for wording
and statements that reflect or relate to
authoritarian and democratic political ideologies,
including attitudes toward authority, liberal
values, and popular opinion.
Step 4: Review your results and draw
conclusions
• Once you have assigned particular attributes to elements of the
material, reflect on your results to examine the function and meaning
of the language used. Here, you will consider your analysis in relation
to the broader context that you established earlier to draw
conclusions that answer your research question.
• Your analysis shows that the material published before the regime
change used language that emphasized the quality and necessity of
its services and products, while the material published after the shift
to a democratic regime emphasized the needs and values of the
consumer. You compare the results with your research on the ideology
and rhetoric of the political regimes, and infer that the shifting
political context shaped the communication strategies of national
businesses.
Let’s recap…
• In this Presentation, we’ve covered quite a bit of ground. The key takeaways are:
• Discourse analysis is a qualitative analysis method used to draw meaning from
language in context.
• You should consider using discourse analysis when you wish to analyze the
functions and underlying meanings of language in context.
• The two overarching approaches to discourse analysis are language-in-
use and socio-political approaches.
• The main steps involved in undertaking discourse analysis are deciding on your
analysis approach (based on your research questions), choosing a data collection
method, collecting your data, investigating the context of your data, analyzing
your data, and reviewing your work.
Refrences
• Luo, A. (2022, December 05). Critical Discourse Analysis | Definition,
Guide & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved January 3, 2023, from
https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/discourse-analysis/