Qualitative text analysis

Why do qualitative text analysis?

A number of scholars say you cannot

capture the meaning of a text by
counting the number of times
violence is portrayed or the
categories of jobs named in a story,
etc.

Why qualitative text analysis?

Sometimes subtle meanings, or implied or

connotative meanings, are what you want
to understand.

Texts are organic wholesnot

just the sum of their parts

Narrative structure

Interactions among elements

Beginning, middle, end

Heroic quest, etc.
Relationships among characters

Context may be crucial

Some things are important

but not common

Frames and framing

Implicit meaning

Parables, myths, metaphors

Some themes, etc. are brought to

the text by the reader

This view states that much of the

meaning of stories, etc. is based on
the knowledge the reader or viewer
brings to the text

Latent meanings are hard to code for

You must bring an understanding of the
ideas the reader/viewer uses to decode
the text to the study of its meaning

To understand a text, you need to be educated

in an appropriate theoretical approach

It is not possible pick up that sort of

understanding in a 3-hour training
session
You cant write rules that adequately
capture that sort of knowledge

Analyzing texts

The researcher carries out the text analysis

Cannot train coders to do it for her

A wide range of theoretical perspectives are

applied to texts

Semiotics
Psychoanalysis
Film genre theory
Theory of ideology (critical/cultural theory)
Feminist theory

Unique analyses

Because of the unique viewpoint and

expertise of the researcher, the analysis
and its conclusions will also be unique

Someone else carrying out a textual analysis

of a movie, etc. will come to a different set of
conclusions

The point is not to provide the single correct

analysis of a text, but to provide a thoughtful and
insightful reading that helps your audience to see
the text in new and valuable ways
Empower media consumers to see through the
veneer of the text and better understand what its
meaning is

Provide your readers tools to become media literate

The analysis

Rather than coding (assigning numbers to

sample units) the researcher reads deeply and
tries to discern the meaning of the text as a
whole or of certain significant features of the
text

The researcher attempts to reveal/construct the

larger or more subtle/hidden meanings of the text

Much of the meaning is latent

Data collection and analysis are combined

The analyst looks at the text from the

viewpoint of the theory or theories he is
using to evaluate it

Writes the analysis according to the language

and rules of the theory he is applying

Researcher subjectivity

While qualitative analysis allows for

insightful evaluation of texts, it also leaves
open the possibility of idiosyncratic
interpretations

The pull of prior expectations may bias the

interpretation of textseven among scholars
dedicated to objectivity

The result

The output is a description of the text(s) based in

one or more theoretical traditions that informed
the analysis, rather than a set of tables and
graphs representing the number of times some
characteristic or category is identified
The goal is to derive a better understanding of
the meaning of the text and/or of the impact of
certain features upon its meaning

Combining methods

Sometimes the most powerful analysis is

one that combines quantitative (content
analysis) and qualitative (textual analysis)
evaluation of texts

Radway

What does Like a Prayer mean?

Example: Ideological analysis of

Law and Order

What is the role of power in the story?

Who has legitimate right to harm?
What is the appropriate means of dealing
with those who break the rules?
What kind of people break or enforce the
rules?
What is the role of individual rights?

Example: Psychological analysis

of the Dark Knight