Quantifying Approaches to Discourse for Social Scientists

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxiii

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2. Introductory Remarks

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. Understanding Twenty-First-Century Societies Using Quantifying Text-Processing Methods

      • Ronny Scholz

      Pages 3-21

   3. Beyond the Quantitative and Qualitative Cleavage: Confluence of Research Operations in Discourse Analysis

      • Jules Duchastel, Danielle Laberge

      Pages 23-47

3. Analysing Institutional Contexts of Discourses

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 49-49

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   2. The Academic Dispositif: Towards a Context-Centred Discourse Analysis

      • Julian Hamann, Jens Maesse, Ronny Scholz, Johannes Angermuller

      Pages 51-87

   3. On the Social Uses of Scientometrics: The Quantification of Academic Evaluation and the Rise of Numerocracy in Higher Education

      • Johannes Angermuller, Thed van Leeuwen

      Pages 89-119

4. Exploring Corpora: Heuristics, Topic Modelling and Text Mining

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 121-121

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   2. Lexicometry: A Quantifying Heuristic for Social Scientists in Discourse Studies

      • Ronny Scholz

      Pages 123-153

   3. Words and Facts: Textual Analysis—Topic-Centred Methods for Social Scientists

      • Karl M. van Meter

      Pages 155-181

   4. Text Mining for Discourse Analysis: An Exemplary Study of the Debate on Minimum Wages in Germany

      • Gregor Wiedemann

      Pages 183-212

5. New Developments in Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 213-213

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   2. The Value of Revisiting and Extending Previous Studies: The Case of Islam in the UK Press

      • Paul Baker, Tony McEnery

      Pages 215-249

   3. The Linguistic Construction of World: An Example of Visual Analysis and Methodological Challenges

      • Noah Bubenhofer, Klaus Rothenhäusler, Katrin Affolter, Danica Pajovic

      Pages 251-284

   4. Multi-method Discourse Analysis of Twitter Communication: A Comparison of Two Global Political Issues

      • Jörn Stegmeier, Wolf J. Schünemann, Marcus Müller, Maria Becker, Stefan Steiger, Sebastian Stier

      Pages 285-314

6. Back Matter

   Pages 315-320

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This book provides an overview of a range of quantitative methods, presenting a thorough analytical toolbox which will be of practical use to researchers across the social sciences as they face the challenges raised by new technology-driven language practices. The book is driven by a reflexive mind-set which views quantifying methods as complementary rather than in opposition to qualitative methods, and the chapters analyse a multitude of different intra- and extra-textual context levels essential for the understanding of how meaning is (re-)constructed in society. Uniting contributions from a range of national and disciplinary traditions, the chapters in this volume bring together state-of-the-art research from British, Canadian, French, German and Swiss authors representing the fields of Political Science, Sociology, Linguistics, Computer Science and Statistics. It will be of particular interest to discourse analysts, but also to other scholars working in the digital humanitiesand with big data of any kind. 

• technology driven language practices
• big data
• quantitative textual analysis
• discourse methodology
• digital humanities
• Text Processing Methods
• corpora
• heuristics
• Scientometrics
• Numerocracy
• Topic modelling
• Text mining
• Lexicometry
• political discourse
• Twitter
• discourse analysis
• corpus linguistics

• Centre for Applied Linguistics, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK

  Ronny Scholz

Ronny Scholz coordinates the ERC-funded DISCONEX project on academic discourses at the University of Warwick, UK. He holds a Master degree in discourse studies from the University Paris XII and a PhD in sociology and linguistics from Magdeburg and Paris-Est. His work focuses on the question of legitimisation of power in political discourses especially in the post-democratic era. He uses lexicometric tools as quantifying heuristic helping to explore new perspectives in various corpora of political discourse.

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