Textual Analysis

Textual analysis is a method of data analysis that closely examines either the content and meaning of texts or their structure and discourse. Texts, which can range from newspapers, television programs, and blogs to architecture, fashion, and furniture, are deconstructed to examine how they operate, the manner in which they are constructed, the ways in which meanings are produced, and the nature of those meanings. Sociologists, geographers, historians, linguists, communications and media studies researchers, and film researchers use textual analysis to assess texts from a range of cultural settings.

Textual analysis is a term used to refer to a variety of primarily qualitative methodologies or models. Research that focuses on the analysis of textual content will adopt either content analysis (both quantitative and qualitative approaches), semiotics, phenomenology, or hermeneutics. Research on textual structure and discourse employs different methodologies, including genre analysis, miseen-scène analysis, narrative analysis, discourse analysis, structural analysis, poststructural analysis, or postmodern textual analysis. Each methodology has its own nuances, inflections, strengths, and weaknesses. A number of theoretical frameworks are available to researchers when interpreting any text. The framework adopted will depend on the researcher's preferences. Some researchers explore texts, their conventions and their relationship to realism, whereas others assess the construction and reinforcement of cultural myths.

The Glasgow University Group (1976, 1980) used a combination of textual analysis methodologies, including content analysis and semiotic analysis, to explore the ideology at work in the presentation of television news surrounding industrial reporting. Their textual analyses identified systematic biases against the working classes. More recently, textual analysis has been broadened to consider the ideological implications of both factual and fictional texts and their hybrid forms.

All texts, including this encyclopedia entry, have their own narrative structures and persuasive qualities and are designed to convey a preferred meaning. Textual analysis does not attempt to identify the “correct” interpretation of a text, but is used to identify what interpretations are possible and likely. Texts are polysemic—they have multiple and varied meanings. However, this semantic instability does not mean that readers can make a text mean whatever they wish it to mean. Meaning is derived from the codes, conventions, and genre of the text and its social, cultural, historical, and ideological context—which can work together to convey a preferred reading of the text. Some textual analyses examine the interconnections of meanings both inside and outside the text. Thus, questions asked during textual analysis refer to the rhetorical context of the text (Who created the text? What are the authors' intentions? Who is the intended audience?), the specific textual characteristics (What topic or issue is being addressed? How is the audience addressed? What is the central theme or claim made? Is there evidence or explanation to support the theme or claim? What is the nature of this evidence or explanation?), and the wider context of the text (How does the text relate to other texts in the same genre or format?).

Textual analysis is a fruitful methodology that has increased understanding of the construction of textual meaning in variety of cultural texts. Through close and detailed scrutiny, textual analysis can provide rich discussion of presentational and structural specifics and subtleties that would remain unidentified if a cursory analysis was conducted. Textual analysis also benefits from that naturally occurring status of its data source. Texts exist in society before the researcher decides to analyze them. Therefore, insights into meaning construction and the ideological implications of texts are not subject to the biases that are evident when data sources are created for, or around, the research project. Texts are also readily available, which can quicken the research process and prevent ethical difficulties surrounding access (although some ethical considerations still apply; for example, regarding anonymity). Further, as textual approaches provide close analyses of texts, often only a small number of texts is required to create an adequate data set (with the exception of quantitative content analysis).

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