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The Qualitative Analysis of Political Documents

  • Jared J. Wesley
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From Text to Political Positions
This chapter is in the book From Text to Political Positions

Abstract

Qualitative document analysis remains one of the most common, yet methodologically misunderstood, components of political science research. While analysts are accustomed to incorporating manifestos, speeches, and other documents as evidence in their studies, few approach the task with the same level of understanding and sophistication as when applying quantitative methods. Building bridges between the two traditions, this chapter suggests guidelines for the rigorous, qualitative study of political documents. The discussion includes a novel examination of materials from the Poltext Project collection – a compilation of documents from across the Canadian provinces. The paper concludes that, whether approaching their work from a quantitative or non-quantitative perspective, researchers must adhere to similar disciplinary standards if their findings are to be considered trustworthy contributions to political science.

Abstract

Qualitative document analysis remains one of the most common, yet methodologically misunderstood, components of political science research. While analysts are accustomed to incorporating manifestos, speeches, and other documents as evidence in their studies, few approach the task with the same level of understanding and sophistication as when applying quantitative methods. Building bridges between the two traditions, this chapter suggests guidelines for the rigorous, qualitative study of political documents. The discussion includes a novel examination of materials from the Poltext Project collection – a compilation of documents from across the Canadian provinces. The paper concludes that, whether approaching their work from a quantitative or non-quantitative perspective, researchers must adhere to similar disciplinary standards if their findings are to be considered trustworthy contributions to political science.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Foreword vii
  4. Positions of Parties and Political Cleavages between Parties in Texts 1
  5. PART I. Computational Methods for Political Text Analysis
  6. PART I: Introduction 23
  7. Comparing the Position of Canadian Political Parties using French and English Manifestos as Textual Data 27
  8. Leveraging Textual Sentiment Analysis with Social Network Modelling 47
  9. Issue Framing and Language Use in the Swedish Blogosphere 71
  10. Text to Ideology or Text to Party Status? 93
  11. Sentiment Analysis in Parliamentary Proceedings 117
  12. The Qualitative Analysis of Political Documents 135
  13. PART II. From Text to Political Positions via Discourse Analysis
  14. PART II: Introduction 163
  15. The Potential of Narrative Strategies in the Discursive Construction of Hegemonic Positions and Social Change 171
  16. Christians, Feminists, Liberals, Socialists, Workers and Employers 189
  17. Between Union and a United Ireland 207
  18. Systematic Stylistic Analysis 225
  19. Participation and recontextualisation in New Media 245
  20. PART III. Converging methods
  21. PART III: Introduction 271
  22. From Text to the Construction of Political Party Landscapes 275
  23. From Text to Political Positions 297
  24. About the authors 325
  25. Index 331
https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.55.07wes

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Foreword vii
  4. Positions of Parties and Political Cleavages between Parties in Texts 1
  5. PART I. Computational Methods for Political Text Analysis
  6. PART I: Introduction 23
  7. Comparing the Position of Canadian Political Parties using French and English Manifestos as Textual Data 27
  8. Leveraging Textual Sentiment Analysis with Social Network Modelling 47
  9. Issue Framing and Language Use in the Swedish Blogosphere 71
  10. Text to Ideology or Text to Party Status? 93
  11. Sentiment Analysis in Parliamentary Proceedings 117
  12. The Qualitative Analysis of Political Documents 135
  13. PART II. From Text to Political Positions via Discourse Analysis
  14. PART II: Introduction 163
  15. The Potential of Narrative Strategies in the Discursive Construction of Hegemonic Positions and Social Change 171
  16. Christians, Feminists, Liberals, Socialists, Workers and Employers 189
  17. Between Union and a United Ireland 207
  18. Systematic Stylistic Analysis 225
  19. Participation and recontextualisation in New Media 245
  20. PART III. Converging methods
  21. PART III: Introduction 271
  22. From Text to the Construction of Political Party Landscapes 275
  23. From Text to Political Positions 297
  24. About the authors 325
  25. Index 331
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