How to conduct a psychological discourse analysis

Abstract

This paper provides an overview to conducting discourse analysis (DA) as used in Discursive Psychology. The purpose of this paper is to fill the gap left by there being a lack of useful accounts of how to conduct and write up this type of discourse analysis. It begins by outlining the discursive psychological approach and its claim that analysts should focus on what is accomplished in talk, rather than addressing what this talk may tell us about people’s cognitions. Following this theoretical introduction there is a step by step guide to conducting discourse analysis. This eight-point guide covers 1) deciding on an appropriate question for discourse analysis, 2) picking appropriate data sources for analysis, 3) generating a corpus, 4) transcribing the data, 5) preliminary reading – searching for the action orientation, 6) generating results – discursive devices and rhetorical/interactional strategies, 7) building a case to support the findings, and finally, 8) report writing.