Textual Techniques

Blix, B., Hamran, T., & Normann, H. (2013). “The Old Sami” – who is he and how should he be cared for? A discourse analysis of Norwegian policy documents regarding care services for elderly Sami. Acta Borealia30(1), 75–100. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08003831.2013.769323

This study uses document analysis and discourse analysis of Norwegian policy documents concerning public services for Sami elders. The research looks at governmental documents from 1995 to 2009, exploring how statements regarding Sami care services are situated in contemporary political/ healthcare discourses. (SL)

Douglas, J. (2017). Getting personal: Personal archives in archival programs and curricula. Education for Information, 33(2), 89-105. https://content.iospress.com/articles/education-for-information/efi991

In this article, Douglas discusses the difference between personal archives and organizational archives. Additionally, the article addresses the importance of studying personal archives, particularly in relation to archival theory and advocacy for numerous social issues. Douglas writes from her perspective as a professor and archival educator. (D.E.)

Flood, Christopher. (2019). Framing and Ideology: A Theoretical Reconsideration. Conference Papers — Midwestern Political Science Association. 2009 Annual Meeting, p1. 36p. (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229010357_Framing_and_Ideology_A_Theoretical_Reconsideration)

This article discusses the weaknesses of widely used frame theory methods in quantitative text analysis, and proposes ways of integrating qualitative methods for a more sophisticated and less reductive understanding of the text. This is discussed in the context of political ideology and news reporting, but it could be useful for research projects examining bodies of published literature on any topic, because it provides an overview of potential issues and solutions for a popular method of media analysis. (H.D.)

Hayman, B. & Wilkes, L. & Jackson, D. (2012). Journaling: identification of challenges and reflection on strategies. Nurse Researcher 19(3), 27-31. http:/​/​doi.org/​10.7748/​nr2012.04.19.3.27.c9056. http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A289359972/HWRC?u=vol_b92b&sid=HWRC&xid=2b87c22f.

Hayman et al identified the challenges and offered some solutions on using journaling as a qualitative research method within the context of their research. The context was a research project about lesbian couples with children and used journaling to document their experiences as a mother for a month. This could be used by researchers that want to ensure that journaling is consistent and is maintained across a period of time. (MR)

Kelle, H., Seehaus, R., & Bollig, S. (2015). Child Health Records as Socio-Material Instruments of Distributing Responsibility. A Comparative Analysis of Pediatric Documents from Austria, England and Germany. Children & Society29(3), 184–197. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/chso.12109

This article uses document analysis to comparatively analyze child health records from Austria, England, and Germany. These records were used to identify similarities and differences between the ways the records convey parental and pediatric responsibilities in health care. (SL)

Land, L., & Ross, J. D. C. (2014). Barriers to questionnaire completion: understanding the AIDS/HIV patient’s perspective. Nurse Researcher, 21(3), 20–23. https://doi.org/10.7748/nr2014.01.21.3.20.e1227

This article focuses on questionnaires and completion rates. This article’s findings would be useful for anyone researching personal and/or sensitive information that participants may be hesitant towards sharing. (AER)

Olejniczak, Jędrzej. (2018). Using corpora to aid qualitative text analysis. An interdisciplinary approach.. Journal of Education Culture and Society. 9. 154-164. 10.15503/jecs20182.154.164. (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331990570_Using_corpora_to_aid_qualitative_text_analysis_An_interdisciplinary_approach)

This paper describes various ways to supplement qualitative text analysis with corpus-based analysis tools. It provides a basic overview of how to use wordlists, concordances, dispersion plots, and keywords, and describes the potential limitations of these methods. It aims to build an understanding of how to incorporate quantitative computer text analysis in order to enhance discoveries drawn from qualitative analysis. This paper could serve as an introduction to corpus analysis for researchers without any prior experience in using these methods, and it could provide insights into mixed-methods approaches to text analysis. (H.D.)

Sinn, D., & Soares, N. (2014). Historians’ use of digital archival collections: The web, historical scholarship, and archival research. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 65(9). https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.23091

In this article, Sinn and Soares discuss a research study about historians’ experiences using digital archival research, and specifically their perceptions of if this type of research is useful. The historians reported that digital archival collections are important source materials for historical studies for many reasons in the new digital age. The historians that participated in this research are well published and experienced (MS).