- Title
- How content analysis may complement and extend the insights of discourse analysis: An example of research on constructions of abortion in South African newspapers 1978–2005
- Creator
- Feltham-King, Tracey, Macleod, Catriona I
- Subject
- To be catalogued
- Date
- 2016
- Type
- text
- Type
- article
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/446258
- Identifier
- vital:74485
- Identifier
- xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406915624575"
- Description
- Although discourse analysis is a well-established qualitative research methodology, little attention has been paid to how discourse analysis may be enhanced through careful supplementation with the quantification allowed in content analysis. In this article, we report on a research study that involved the use of both Foucauldian discourse analysis (FDA) and directed content analysis based on social constructionist theory and our qualitative research findings. The research focused on the discourses deployed, and the ways in which women were discursively positioned, in relation to abortion in 300 newspaper articles, published in 25 national and regional South African newspapers over 28 years, from 1978 to 2005. While the FDA was able to illuminate the constitutive network of power relations constructing women as subjects of a particular kind, questions emerged that were beyond the scope of the FDA. These questions concerned understanding the relative weightings of various discourses and tracing historical changes in the deployment of these discourses. In this article, we show how the decision to combine FDA and content analysis affected our sampling methodology. Using specific examples, we illustrate the contribution of the FDA to the study. Then, we indicate how subject positioning formed the link between the FDA and the content analysis. Drawing on the same examples, we demonstrate how the content analysis supplemented the FDA through tracking changes over time and providing empirical evidence of the extent to which subject positionings were deployed.
- Format
- computer, online resource, application/pdf, 1 online resource (9 pages), pdf
- Publisher
- SAGE
- Language
- English
- Relation
- International Journal of Qualitative Methods, Feltham-King, T. and Macleod, C., 2016. How content analysis may complement and extend the insights of discourse analysis: An example of research on constructions of abortion in South African newspapers 1978–2005. International journal of qualitative methods, 15(1), p.1609406915624575, International Journal of Qualitative Methods volume 15 number 1 p. 1609406915624575 2016 1609-4069
- Rights
- Publisher
- Rights
- Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Sage Journals Terms and Conditions Statement (https://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/terms-of-use)
- Rights
- Open Access
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- Visitors: 126
- Downloads: 10
Collections
Gender Action Forum (GENACT)
Macleod, Catriona Ida (Distinguished Professor)
SDG 05. Gender Equality
RU Department of Psychology
RU DST/NRF SARChI for Critical Studies in Sexualities and Reproductions Research (CSSR) Programme
SDG 10. Reduced Inequalities
SDG 03. Good Health and Well-Being
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | How content analysis may complement and extend the insights of discourse analysis.pdf | 188 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |