Description

Comparative application of two methodological approaches to the analysis of discourses

FRANCESCO PAOLO COLUCCI

Department of Psychology, University of Milano – Bicocca, Milano, Italy

LORENZO MONTALI

Department of Psychology, University of Milano – Bicocca, Milano, Italy

ABSTRACT

The analysis of discourses involves problems and choices related to the integration of quantitative and qualitative methodologies, the formalisation of qualitative analysis, the software used and the identification of the units of analysis. These are issues that can be solved considering the typology of discourses analysed and the topic under examination. We present results of research that examined the integration of two different methods of analysing data using the two computer programmes Alceste and NUD*IST. The corpus examined is made up of articles published in two leading news magazines about ‘the Di Bella affair’, which exploded in Italy at the end of the 1990s. The affair concerned an anti-tumour therapy introduced as an alternative to chemotherapy by Doctor Di Bella, but rejected by the Ministry of Health. This issue flared up in the mass media and public opinion seemed mainly to side with the Di Bella treatment. Our general hypothesis is that this affair gave rise to a conflict between ‘the reified universe’ – scientific and governmental institutions – and ‘the consensual universe’ – laymen, patients and their relatives. An important role was played by the mass media that inflamed the conflict at the same time as representing it. We suggest that this case is understandable only if viewed within the context of the Italian political, cultural and ideological situation. The description of the results stresses the usefulness of integrating the two methods of analysis since what emerges from one method serves to corroborate and clarify that which emerges from the other.

Keywords: mixed methodologies; quantitative and qualitative analysis of discourses; software; Alceste; NUD*IST; social representations; mass-media