2022

Olbertz-Siitonen, Margarethe

Discourse includes conversations, debates, theatre plays, news interviews, speeches, chat logs, blog entries, newspaper articles, e-mails or official documents. This chapter discusses why discourse is a worthwhile object of research in communication studies. The chapter covers what discourse analysis represents and what different discourse analytic approaches have in common. The chapter provides information on aspects of data collection and data processing critical for conducting consistent and reliable discourse analytic work. The chapter introduces important principles and practical advice on analyzing discourse. Discourse analysis is not a single method, but rather different approaches used to study texts and everyday talk by focusing on language use as a means of social action. Discourse analysis is committed to social constructionism where what we say and write are not objective accounts of facts but constructions of our world(s). The data for a discourse analysis may include interviews, diaries, autobiographies, and/or stories analyzed from a narrative, interpretive, or phenomenological perspective. The purpose of the analysis is to illuminate personal meaning making in everyday discourse. Discourse analysis is frequently multimodal meaning language derived from many equally and relevant modes of communication. The modes may include language, gestures, gaze, body orientation, and the layout of documents.