Discourse analysis

Previous articles in this series discussed several methodological approaches used by qualitative researchers in the health professions. This article focuses on discourse analysis. It provides background information for those who will encounter this approach in their reading, rather than instructions for conducting such research.

What is discourse analysis?

Discourse analysis is about studying and analysing the uses of language. Because the term is used in many different ways, we have simplified approaches to discourse analysis into three clusters (table 1 ) and illustrated how each of these approaches might be used to study a single domain: doctor-patient communication about diabetes management (table 2 ). Regardless of approach, a vast array of data sources is available to the discourse analyst, including transcripts from interviews, focus groups, samples of conversations, published literature, media, and web based materials.

Orientation to discourse	Sources of data	Analysis
Formal linguistic discourse analysis (such as sociolinguistics)1	Samples of written or oral language and texts	Microanalysis of linguistic, grammatical, and semantic uses and meanings of text
Empirical discourse analysis (such as conversation analysis, genre analysis)2	Samples of written or oral language and texts; and data on the "uses" of the text in social settings	Microanalysis and macroanalysis of the ways in which language and/or texts construct social practices
Critical discourse analysis (such as Foucauldian analysis)3	Samples of written or oral language/texts; and data on the "uses" of the text in social settings; and data on the institutions and individuals who produce and are produced by the language texts	Macroanalysis of how discourses (in many forms) construct what is possible for individuals and institutions to think and to say

Orientation to discourse	Question	Data collection and analysis	Application
Formal linguistic discourse analysis	What are the characteristics of linguistic structures that doctors use to instruct patients on medication?	Analyse sentences from a patient education pamphlet such as "you must control your blood sugar" in terms of rules of linguistic function in general use	Could be used to restructure the linguistic structure of patient education materials
Empirical discourse analysis or conversation analysis	What is the nature of conversations between doctors and their patients about diabetes management?	Record and analyse doctor-patient conversations about diabetes management; analyse the kinds of utterances commonly used, their meanings,...