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textual_analysis.pptxTextual Analysis
Unit 5
There are several related topics in this unit…
What is Textual Analysis?
Where do we find texts to examine?
How do we do textual analysis?
What are some concerns associated
with conducting textual analysis?
What is Textual Analysis? Textual Analysis
The fundamental premise of textual analysis is that we
can learn about communication by examining
communication artifacts.
Textual analysis is the methodology communication
professionals use to analyze and interpret organizational
artifacts.
Where do we find texts to examine? Textual Analysis
Communication artifacts or texts derive from one of two sources.
An Existing Universe of Texts
Organizational Texts exist naturally in many forms including, but not
limited to…
reports training videos memos
training manuals corporate newsletters web pages
emails mission statements advertisements
Or the Creation of Texts through Another Methodology
Texts can be created by asking people in an interview or a questionnaire to report about a communication phenomenon.
Conducting a Textual Analysis Textual Analysis
Textual Analysis is a multi-step process that involves…
Selecting Texts
Determining the Unit of Analysis
Determining Categories
Coding
and Analyzing Data
Selecting Texts Textual Analysis
We begin textual analysis by first selecting a sample of texts from
the existing universe of texts.
A researcher must ensure that the texts selected are:
Representative that the texts sampled are representative of all possible types of texts that exist within the universe of texts
Sufficient that there are enough texts in the sample to draw meaningful conclusions
Determining the Unit of Analysis Textual Analysis
Once texts have been selected the researcher must determine what the unit of analysis will be.
The unit of analysis can be a particular statement within the text, the entire text, or some specific
feature of the text.
For example, a researcher may be examining billboards on state highways as a set of texts. She
is interested in how people see and understand the first line of text in billboards. Thus, she decides
that she wants the first line of text on the billboards to be her unit of analysis.
A different researcher may interested in the overall message of the billboard and therefore he
decides that the unit of analysis would be all of the text on the billboard, not just the first line of
text.
A third researcher may be interested in the graphic images that appear on billboards. She decides
to make these the unit of analysis.
Thus we can see how the same set of texts (in this case billboards on state highways) can be
analyzed differently depending on the unit of analysis designated by the researcher.
Determining the Unit of Analysis Textual Analysis
Once the unit of analysis has been determined
the researcher must begin “unitizing” the texts.
Unitizing is the process of identifying the units
of analysis within the texts to be examined.
Determining the Unit of Analysis Textual Analysis
For the researchers studying billboards unitizing would involve the following:
identify where the first line of text begins and ends
identify what constitutes the entire text of the billboard
identify what graphic images would be signaled out for study.
In each case the researcher sets the parameters for determining what
constitutes a unit of analysis in the given set of texts. Then the researcher
decides how many units of analysis there actually are in the data set.
In the fist two cases the number of units of analysis would match the number
of billboards included in the sample of texts. However, in the case of graphic
images on billboards there could in fact be many more units of analysis than
there are billboards because individual billboards may have several graphics.
Determining Categories Textual Analysis
Next the researcher must determine what the categories used in
the textual analysis will be. Categories can be drawn from one of
two sources:
Theory and/or Previous Literature
Previous research and theory will suggest to us what categories are relevant for a given phenomenon.
For example, when analyzing diaries cataloguing employees’ emotional exchanges at work we could rely upon the standard 6 category list of emotional prototypes, which includes happiness, sadness, joy, affection, surprise, and anger.
Determining Categories Textual Analysis
Or the researcher can look to the actual data for categories.
The Current Data (Grounded Theory)
Via a type of analysis known as grounded theory we can examine the data with the intention of allowing the categories to emerge naturally from the data.
For instance we could identify several themes that appear in fans’ web blogs posted on their favorite athletes’ websites. By reviewing these texts we could find some emergent themes to provide a sense of what types of messages fans post and why they post such messages.
Determining Categories Textual Analysis
Categories derived from previous literature and/or theory must
be:
Mutually exclusive refers to the idea that the categories are independent and separate from one another. It is a fancy way of saying that they should not overlap.
Exhaustive means that the categories exhaust all of the possible categories that should be used.
Equivalent means the categories are measuring or getting at the same idea.
Coding Textual Analysis
Once we have selected texts, unitized them, and decided on
categories we can begin coding.
Coding is the process by which we place the units of analysis
into the categories we’ve decided to use. We do this by reviewing
each unit of analysis and placing it in one of the predetermined
categories.
We cannot be certain that all people would code the same data the
same way. Therefore we use multiple coders to do the coding.
Coding Textual Analysis
The coding process involves:
Training Coders
Assessing Intercoder Reliability
and Achieving Consensus
Training Coders Textual Analysis
To train coders we need to first introduce them to the category
scheme to be used, reviewing carefully what does and does not
belong in each category.
Then we should have coders practice coding with a set of texts
that are not part of the data to be analyzed.
If we recognize any problems with the coding scheme at this
point or how the coders are using it we need to make the
necessary corrections before beginning our analysis of the actual
data.
Assessing Intercoder Reliability Textual Analysis
As we noted earlier, we should and usually do use more than one coder. To
determine the degree to which multiple coders have categorized the data
similarly we need to compute what is called intercoder reliability.
We determine intercoder reliability to assess the degree to which coders used
the category scheme similarly and placed units of analysis into categories
accordingly.
There are several ways to compute intercoder reliability including:
Percentage Agreement
Cohen’s Kappa
and Scott’s π
Assessing Intercoder Reliability Textual Analysis
Percentage agreement simply involves computing the number of times
coders agreed out of the number of total times they could have agreed.
The problem with percentage agreement is that it includes something called
chance agreement (or the possibility that coders agreed by chance and not
intentionally). Therefore percentage agreement is thought of as an “inflated”
measure of intercoder reliability.
In contrast Cohen’s Kappa and Scott’s π use a mathematical computation that
factors out chance agreement and they are therefore considered more
“conservative” estimates of intercoder reliability.
Achieving Consensus Textual Analysis
Because coders will not agree all of the time there will be unresolved cases
where disagreement has occurred. That is, cases in which coders believe the
same observation belongs in two different categories.
We do not want to exclude these cases. Rather we need to train the coders to
reach consensus.
Coders can achieve consensus by talking about the cases in which originally
there was disagreement until they can come to some consensus about where
the observation belongs.
In research reports we usually see the practice described in a statement like
“Coders discussed cases in which disagreement occurred until consensus was
reached and all observations were categorized.”
Analyzing Data Textual Analysis
Once the coding procedure has been completed we are ready to
analyze the results. Results can be analyzed either qualitatively or
quantitatively.
Qualitative analysis simply involves examining the texts for themes and describing the themes accordingly.
Quantitative analysis involves counting the number of observations in each category and then comparing those amounts using the X2 (chi square) statistic. This statistic tells us whether or not differences in amounts are robust enough to have happened beyond chance.
Concerns with Textual Analysis Textual Analysis
When conducting textual analysis we have to be attentive to any limitations in
the universe of texts. There are two particular limitations to which we should
attend:
Selective deposit refers to the idea that not all texts would have been retained or archived. For example, there are many more gospels than just those that were included in the New Testament.
Selective survival refers to the idea that only some texts have survived from a larger universe of texts. For example, how many of the speeches of this country’s founding fathers have survived? Certainly nowhere near as many as they gave.
