IHMJ3104 Discourse Analysis: Data Clinic (2–4 cr)

The term “discourse analysis” (DA) is best understood as an umbrella designation for an established and rapidly growing field of research covering a wide range of different theoretical approaches and analytic emphases. What discursive approaches in different disciplinary locations share, however, is a strong social constructionist epistemology - the idea of language as much more than a mere mirror of the world and phenomena ‘out-there’, and the conviction that discourse is of central importance in constructing the ideas, social processes, and phenomena that make up our social world.

a) Develop an understanding of social constructionist epistemology and discursive research as a field of varied analytic, theoretical and practical approaches. b)Do hands-on practical exercises in data sessions which welcome student data from everyday, interview, and institutional settings. c) Discuss and develop their understanding of transcription, validity and transparency. d) Learn how to use the data as evidence in their monograph, or article-size analyses. e) Work in ways that directly feeds into their data analyses and the completion of their doctoral thesis. f) Receive a list of relevant literature pertaining to DA.

The students will be given a reading list before the course. This concise two-day course invites doctoral students working with video-or audio materials who wish to approach their data from and interactional/discourse analytic point of view. The course combines lectures with data sessions on the participants’ ongoing doctoral research projects and data. The lectures cover the key theoretical and analytical starting points of discourse analysis, questions of validity, quality and transparency of the analysis, and transcription practices.