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What is discourse analysis?

Discourse analysis is a field of qualitative analysis that has its origins in disciplines such as linguistics, philosophy, psychology, anthropology.¹ It is an interdisciplinary field that deals with ‘language’ and meaning.²

According to Jaworski and Coupland, the purpose of discourse analysis is that it ‘offers a means of exposing or deconstructing the social practices that constitute ‘social structure’ and what we might call the conventional meaning structures of social life. It is a sort of forensic activity’.^3(p5) There are three domains of discourse analysis: the study of social interaction; the study of minds, selves and sense-making; and the study of culture and social relations.^4(p5)

Discourse analysis is the study of texts such as transcribed interviews, websites, forums, books, newspapers, government documents (and many more), and the analysis of those texts to understand different accounts and the meanings behind those accounts. Qualitative researchers strive to understand the relationships between text (discourse) and social constructs. As text is analysed, the meaning behind the text is also explored, often as the ‘voices’ in the text. For example, when a participant is asked about their eating habits and they discuss their joy in eating as well as feelings of guilt from eating high-calorific foods, they may be voicing their parents’ disapproval of this eating behaviour. The relationship between text and social constructs can also be seen in alcohol advertising: an advertisement may be promoting alcohol consumption as a fun behaviour, but also cautions listeners to drink ‘responsibly’, because the advertiser is required to do so by advertising standards authorities. This inherent contradiction in the advertising is part of the meaning-making regarding alcohol consumption. This meaning-making is contextual and differs between countries, such as Australia (a high alcohol consumption culture) and Canada (a lower alcohol consumption culture). Another example of context is in the use of the word ‘just’ by an interview participant; the term can mean many things, but if the researcher is asking about job title, ‘just’ may the participant’s implication or inference that the title does not reflect an important position (e.g. ‘I’m just an editor’). In discourse analysis, texts, meanings and inferences are important.

Following is an example of media articles and two distinct discourses about violence towards women. The first media article, published by The Guardian on 15 June 2018,⁵ presents a discourse about how it is the responsibility of women to prevent men from being violent towards them. The second article about the same incident, published by The Age on 25 May 2019,⁶ presents a discourse that it is the responsibility of men not to be violent towards women.

Meanings of texts are particularly important when participants use metaphors. The researcher needs to examine the implications of the metaphor, deliberate or inadvertent. For example, when the researcher asks the participant how they felt about their life and the participant replies, ‘life is a highway’, the researcher needs to look beyond what was said to understand the participant’s meaning.

As an interdisciplinary method, discourse analysis can be complex and intricate. Gee⁷ provides 72 tools to assist with various types of discourse analysis, ranging from identifying what is being said and what is not being said, to examining ‘how the person is using language, as well as ways of acting, interacting, believing, valuing, dressing, and using various objects, tools, and technologies in certain sorts of environments to enact a specific socially recognizable identity and engage in one or more socially recognizable activities’.^7(p201) Gee also includes a helpful table (see Table 23.1) populated with his 7 building tasks for researchers to examine their discourses, and provides the answers.⁸

[table id=55 /]

How to conduct discourse analysis

Discourse analysis, as in all other qualitative methods, is used depending on the research topic and question(s) or aim(s). The following steps are recommended:

Step 1: Have a clearly defined topic and research question, because this informs the types of research materials that will be used.

Step 2: Conduct wide-ranging searches for materials that will inform the research topic.

Step 3: Determine which theory and framework will be used as the underpinning foundation for the analyses (see Section 1 chapters 1–4).

Step 4: Analyse the content of the materials. This analysis is different (but similar) to content analysis, which is a research technique to systematically classify codes and identify themes or patterns within the data. Discourse analysis is concerned with identifying themes and patterns within the texts that relate to the social contexts reflected in the research topic and within the theoretical lens chosen for analyses.

Step 5: Interpret and draw conclusions. Reflect on your work and examine how the various texts use language within the context of the research topic to answer the research question(s).

As an example, Table 23.3 includes a study on girls’ experience of competitive dancing.⁹ The authors progressed through the steps as follows:

Step 1: The topic is eating disorders and young dancers. The research question is ‘How does experience in the world of competitive dance shape the relationship that young girls have with their bodies?’

Step 2: The author conducted wide–ranging literature searches on eating disorders, ballet dancers, body image, thinness, Western culture, dieting, media influences and many more topics.

Step 3: Feminism was the theoretical underpinning of the textual analysis. As described by the authors, ‘a feminist post structural approach was chosen to provide a critical lens to explore the beliefs, values, and practices of young dancers… aimed to provide an understanding of the dominant and competing discourses present in the world of dance and discover how these discourses are constituted, perpetuated, and form ways of knowing in relation to body and body image.’^9(p7)

Step 4: The transcripts were analysed in 5 steps, following Aston¹⁰ and presented in table 23.2:

Step 5: Results were first interpreted within an ‘environmental’ context (competitive culture, ideal dancer’s body, mirrors, and dance attire and costumes), which was predominately negative due to the competitive culture. The second context was ‘parents’, which encompassed body monitoring, joking, and parents and support. Although most of the dancers stated that their parents did not influence their relationship with their body, discourse analysis demonstrated that parents did influence them. The third context was ‘coaches’. Coaches had a very strong influence on participants’ body image. While the dancers believed their coaches were supportive, the discourse demonstrated that most coaches’ comments were negative. ‘Peers’ represented in the final context for analysis. Again, the dancers believed their peers were supportive; however, discourse analysis demonstrated that many peer comments were negative. The conclusions drawn from the research were that ‘all participants experienced negative physical, mental, and/or emotional repercussions throughout their competitive dance experience. It was also determined that environment, parents, coaches, and peers largely shaped the dancer’s relationship with body and body image in the world of dance. These influences generated and perpetuated the dominant negative body image discourse that dancers were often unable to resist, and consequently their relationship with body and body image suffered.’^9(pp22-23)

This is a good example of situating a topic (body image) within a context (young women dancing) underpinned by a theoretical framework that explores the dancers’ beliefs, values and practices.

[table id=54 /]

Advantages and challenges of discourse analysis

Discourse analysis can be used to analyse small and large data sets with homogenous and heterogenous samples. It can be applied to any type of data source, from interviews and focus groups to diary entries, news reports and online discussion forums. However, interpretation in discourse analysis can lead to limitations and challenges that tend to occur when discourse analysis is misapplied or done poorly. Discourse analysis can be highly flexible and is best used when anchored in a theoretical approach. Because discourse analysis involves subjective interpretation, training and support from a qualitative researcher with expertise in the method is required to ensure that the interpretation of the data is meaningful. Finally, discourse analysis can be time-consuming when analysing large volumes of texts.

Summary

Discourse analysis is a process whereby texts are examined and interpreted. It looks for the meanings ‘behind’ text in cultural and social contexts. Discourse analysis is flexible, and the researcher has scope to interpret the text(s) based on the research topic and aim(s). Having a theoretical approach assists the researcher to position the discourse in cultural and social grounding.

References

1. Schiffrin D, Tannen D et al., eds. The Handbook of Discourse Analysis. Blackwell; 2001.
2. Jaworski A, Coupland N. eds. The Discourse Reader. 2nd ed. Routledge; 2006.
3. Jaworski A, Coupland N. Introduction: perspectives on discourse analysis. In: Jaworski A, Coupland N, eds. The Discourse Reader. 2nd ed. Routledge; 2006.
4. Wetherell M, Taylor S, Yates S. (2001) Discourse Theory and Practice: A Reader. 2nd ed. Sage. 2001.
5. Davey M. ‘Men need to change’: anger grows over police response to Eurydice Dixon’s murder. Guardian. June 15, 2018. Accessed April 28, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/jun/15/men-need-to-change-anger-grows-over-police-response-to-comedians#:~:text=Melbourne
6. Fowler M. ‘This is about men’s behaviour’, says top policy offer after another woman’s murder. Age. May 25, 2019. Accessed April 28, 2023. https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/this-is-about-men-s-behaviour-says-top-police-officer-after-another-woman-s-murder-20190525-p51r46.html
7. Gee J. How to do Discourse Analysis: A Toolkit. 2nd ed. Routledge; 2014.
8. Gee J. An Introduction to Discourse Analysis: Theory and Method. 3rd ed. Routledge; 2011.
9. Doria N, Numer M. Dancing in a culture of disordered eating: a feminist poststructural analysis of body and body image among young girls in the world of dance. PLoS ONE. 2022;17(1): e0247651. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0247651
10. Aston M. Teaching feminist poststructuralism: founding scholars still relevant today. Creative Education. 2016;7(15):2251-2267. doi:10.4236/ce.2016.715220
11. Öhman A, Burman M, Carbin Met al.‘The public health turn on violence against women’: analysing Swedish healthcare law, public health and gender-equality policies. BMC Public Health. 2020;20:753. doi:10.1186/s12889-020-08766-7
12. Carrasco JM, Gómez-Baceiredo B, Navas A et al. Social representation of palliative care in the Spanish printed media: a qualitative analysis. PLoS ONE. 2019;14(1):e0211106. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0211106