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The Benefits of Creating a Product Roadmap: A Comprehensive Analysis

In today’s fast-paced and ever-evolving business landscape, it is crucial for companies to have a clear vision and a well-defined plan for their products. This is where creating a product roadmap comes into play. A product roadmap serves as a strategic guide that outlines the direction, goals, and timeline for developing and launching a new product or enhancing an existing one. In this article, we will explore the numerous benefits that come with creating a product roadmap.

Improved Product Vision and Strategy

One of the primary advantages of creating a product roadmap is that it helps to foster an improved product vision and strategy. By mapping out the key milestones, features, and deliverables, you gain a holistic view of how your product will evolve over time. This allows you to align your team’s efforts towards achieving the desired outcomes.

A well-defined product roadmap provides clarity on what needs to be accomplished at each stage of development. It helps you identify potential gaps or areas that require further exploration, allowing you to make informed decisions about resource allocation, prioritization, and trade-offs. With a clear vision in place, you can effectively communicate the value proposition of your product both internally within your organization and externally to stakeholders.

Enhanced Collaboration and Communication

Creating a product roadmap encourages cross-functional collaboration within your organization. It brings together teams from different departments such as engineering, design, marketing, sales, and customer support to collectively work towards achieving common objectives.

By involving key stakeholders early on in the process of creating the roadmap, you ensure that everyone has input into its development. This fosters transparency and builds trust among team members as they feel included in decision-making processes.

Furthermore, having a visual representation of your product’s journey allows for effective communication with external stakeholders such as clients or investors. It enables you to showcase your long-term strategy and demonstrate how each feature or enhancement aligns with your overall product vision. This level of transparency can help build credibility and trust, leading to stronger relationships with customers and investors.

Efficient Resource Allocation and Planning

A product roadmap serves as a valuable tool for resource allocation and planning. By outlining the key milestones and deliverables, you can better estimate the resources required at each stage of development. This includes personnel, budget, time, and technology.

Having a clear roadmap allows you to identify potential bottlenecks or areas where additional resources may be needed. It enables you to proactively address any constraints or risks that may arise during the product development process. With efficient resource allocation, you can avoid unnecessary delays or budget overruns, ensuring that your product is delivered on time and within budget.

Adaptability to Changing Market Conditions

Finally, creating a product roadmap provides flexibility and adaptability in response to changing market conditions. In today’s dynamic business environment, customer needs, market trends, and competitive landscapes are constantly evolving. A well-designed roadmap allows you to incorporate feedback from users or market research findings into your product strategy.

By regularly reviewing and updating your roadmap, you can ensure that your product remains relevant and competitive in the market. It allows you to pivot or make adjustments based on new information or emerging opportunities without losing sight of your long-term objectives.

In conclusion, creating a product roadmap offers numerous benefits for companies looking to develop successful products. From improved vision and strategy to enhanced collaboration and communication, efficient resource allocation to adaptability in changing market conditions – a well-crafted roadmap sets the foundation for effective product development and launch. By investing time in creating a comprehensive product roadmap, businesses can increase their chances of delivering innovative products that meet customer needs while maximizing their ROI.

This text was generated using a large language model, and select text has been reviewed and moderated for purposes such as readability.

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What (Exactly) Is Discourse Analysis? A Plain-Language Explanation & Definition (With Examples)

By: Jenna Crosley (PhD). Expert Reviewed By: Dr Eunice Rautenbach | June 2021

Discourse analysis is one of the most popular qualitative analysis techniques we encounter at Grad Coach. If you’ve landed on this post, you’re probably interested in discourse analysis, but you’re not sure whether it’s the right fit for your project, or you don’t know where to start. If so, you’ve come to the right place.

Overview: Discourse Analysis Basics

In this post, we’ll explain in plain, straightforward language :

• What discourse analysis is
• When to use discourse analysis
• The main approaches to discourse analysis
• How to conduct discourse analysis

What is discourse analysis?

Let’s start with the word “discourse”.

In its simplest form, discourse is verbal or written communication between people that goes beyond a single sentence . Importantly, discourse is more than just language. The term “language” can include all forms of linguistic and symbolic units (even things such as road signs), and language studies can focus on the individual meanings of words. Discourse goes beyond this and looks at the overall meanings conveyed by language in context .  “Context” here refers to the social, cultural, political, and historical background of the discourse, and it is important to take this into account to understand underlying meanings expressed through language.

A popular way of viewing discourse is as language used in specific social contexts, and as such language serves as a means of prompting some form of social change or meeting some form of goal.

Now that we’ve defined discourse, let’s look at discourse analysis .

Discourse analysis uses the language presented in a corpus or body of data to draw meaning . This body of data could include a set of interviews or focus group discussion transcripts. While some forms of discourse analysis center in on the specifics of language (such as sounds or grammar), other forms focus on how this language is used to achieve its aims. We’ll dig deeper into these two above-mentioned approaches later.

As Wodak and Krzyżanowski (2008) put it: “discourse analysis provides a general framework to problem-oriented social research”. Basically, discourse analysis is used to conduct research on the use of language in context in a wide variety of social problems (i.e., issues in society that affect individuals negatively).

For example, discourse analysis could be used to assess how language is used to express differing viewpoints on financial inequality and would look at how the topic should or shouldn’t be addressed or resolved, and whether this so-called inequality is perceived as such by participants.

What makes discourse analysis unique is that it posits that social reality is socially constructed , or that our experience of the world is understood from a subjective standpoint. Discourse analysis goes beyond the literal meaning of words and languages

For example, people in countries that make use of a lot of censorship will likely have their knowledge, and thus views, limited by this, and will thus have a different subjective reality to those within countries with more lax laws on censorship.

When should you use discourse analysis?

There are many ways to analyze qualitative data (such as content analysis , narrative analysis , and thematic analysis ), so why should you choose discourse analysis? Well, as with all analysis methods, the nature of your research aims, objectives and research questions (i.e. the purpose of your research) will heavily influence the right choice of analysis method.

The purpose of discourse analysis is to investigate the functions of language (i.e., what language is used for) and how meaning is constructed in different contexts, which, to recap, include the social, cultural, political, and historical backgrounds of the discourse.

For example, if you were to study a politician’s speeches, you would need to situate these speeches in their context, which would involve looking at the politician’s background and views, the reasons for presenting the speech, the history or context of the audience, and the country’s social and political history (just to name a few – there are always multiple contextual factors).

Discourse analysis can also tell you a lot about power and power imbalances , including how this is developed and maintained, how this plays out in real life (for example, inequalities because of this power), and how language can be used to maintain it. For example, you could look at the way that someone with more power (for example, a CEO) speaks to someone with less power (for example, a lower-level employee).

Therefore, you may consider discourse analysis if you are researching:

• Some form of power or inequality (for example, how affluent individuals interact with those who are less wealthy
• How people communicate in a specific context (such as in a social situation with colleagues versus a board meeting)
• Ideology and how ideas (such as values and beliefs) are shared using language (like in political speeches)
• How communication is used to achieve social goals (such as maintaining a friendship or navigating conflict)

As you can see, discourse analysis can be a powerful tool for assessing social issues , as well as power and power imbalances . So, if your research aims and objectives are oriented around these types of issues, discourse analysis could be a good fit for you.

Discourse Analysis: The main approaches

There are two main approaches to discourse analysis. These are the language-in-use (also referred to as socially situated text and talk ) approaches and the socio-political approaches (most commonly Critical Discourse Analysis ). Let’s take a look at each of these.

Approach #1: Language-in-use

Language-in-use approaches focus on the finer details of language used within discourse, such as sentence structures (grammar) and phonology (sounds). This approach is very descriptive and is seldom seen outside of studies focusing on literature and/or linguistics.

Because of its formalist roots, language-in-use pays attention to different rules of communication, such as grammaticality (i.e., when something “sounds okay” to a native speaker of a language). Analyzing discourse through a language-in-use framework involves identifying key technicalities of language used in discourse and investigating how the features are used within a particular social context.

For example, English makes use of affixes (for example, “un” in “unbelievable”) and suffixes (“able” in “unbelievable”) but doesn’t typically make use of infixes (units that can be placed within other words to alter their meaning). However, an English speaker may say something along the lines of, “that’s un-flipping-believable”. From a language-in-use perspective, the infix “flipping” could be investigated by assessing how rare the phenomenon is in English, and then answering questions such as, “What role does the infix play?” or “What is the goal of using such an infix?”

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Approach #2: Socio-political

Socio-political approaches to discourse analysis look beyond the technicalities of language and instead focus on the influence that language has in social context , and vice versa. One of the main socio-political approaches is Critical Discourse Analysis , which focuses on power structures (for example, the power dynamic between a teacher and a student) and how discourse is influenced by society and culture. Critical Discourse Analysis is born out of Michel Foucault’s early work on power, which focuses on power structures through the analysis of normalized power .

Normalized power is ingrained and relatively allusive. It’s what makes us exist within society (and within the underlying norms of society, as accepted in a specific social context) and do the things that we need to do. Contrasted to this, a more obvious form of power is repressive power , which is power that is actively asserted.

Sounds a bit fluffy? Let’s look at an example.

Consider a situation where a teacher threatens a student with detention if they don’t stop speaking in class. This would be an example of repressive power (i.e. it was actively asserted).

Normalized power, on the other hand, is what makes us not want to talk in class . It’s the subtle clues we’re given from our environment that tell us how to behave, and this form of power is so normal to us that we don’t even realize that our beliefs, desires, and decisions are being shaped by it.

In the view of Critical Discourse Analysis, language is power and, if we want to understand power dynamics and structures in society, we must look to language for answers. In other words, analyzing the use of language can help us understand the social context, especially the power dynamics.

While the above-mentioned approaches are the two most popular approaches to discourse analysis, other forms of analysis exist. For example, ethnography-based discourse analysis and multimodal analysis. Ethnography-based discourse analysis aims to gain an insider understanding of culture , customs, and habits through participant observation (i.e. directly observing participants, rather than focusing on pre-existing texts).

On the other hand, multimodal analysis focuses on a variety of texts that are both verbal and nonverbal (such as a combination of political speeches and written press releases). So, if you’re considering using discourse analysis, familiarize yourself with the various approaches available so that you can make a well-informed decision.

How to “do” discourse analysis

As every study is different, it’s challenging to outline exactly what steps need to be taken to complete your research. However, the following steps can be used as a guideline if you choose to adopt discourse analysis for your research.

Step 1: Decide on your discourse analysis approach

The first step of the process is to decide on which approach you will take in terms. For example, the language in use approach or a socio-political approach such as critical discourse analysis. To do this, you need to consider your research aims, objectives and research questions. Of course, this means that you need to have these components clearly defined. If you’re still a bit uncertain about these, check out our video post covering topic development here.

While discourse analysis can be exploratory (as in, used to find out about a topic that hasn’t really been touched on yet), it is still vital to have a set of clearly defined research questions to guide your analysis. Without these, you may find that you lack direction when you get to your analysis. Since discourse analysis places such a focus on context, it is also vital that your research questions are linked to studying language within context.

Based on your research aims, objectives and research questions, you need to assess which discourse analysis would best suit your needs. Importantly, you  need to adopt an approach that aligns with your study’s purpose . So, think carefully about what you are investigating and what you want to achieve, and then consider the various options available within discourse analysis.

It’s vital to determine your discourse analysis approach from the get-go , so that you don’t waste time randomly analyzing your data without any specific plan.

Step 2: Design your collection method and gather your data

Once you’ve got determined your overarching approach, you can start looking at how to collect your data. Data in discourse analysis is drawn from different forms of “talk” and “text” , which means that it can consist of interviews , ethnographies, discussions, case studies, blog posts.  

The type of data you collect will largely depend on your research questions (and broader research aims and objectives). So, when you’re gathering your data, make sure that you keep in mind the “what”, “who” and “why” of your study, so that you don’t end up with a corpus full of irrelevant data. Discourse analysis can be very time-consuming, so you want to ensure that you’re not wasting time on information that doesn’t directly pertain to your research questions.

When considering potential collection methods, you should also consider the practicalities . What type of data can you access in reality? How many participants do you have access to and how much time do you have available to collect data and make sense of it? These are important factors, as you’ll run into problems if your chosen methods are impractical in light of your constraints.

Once you’ve determined your data collection method, you can get to work with the collection.

Step 3: Investigate the context

A key part of discourse analysis is context and understanding meaning in context. For this reason, it is vital that you thoroughly and systematically investigate the context of your discourse. Make sure that you can answer (at least the majority) of the following questions:

• What is the discourse?
• Why does the discourse exist? What is the purpose and what are the aims of the discourse?
• When did the discourse take place?
• Where did it happen?
• Who participated in the discourse? Who created it and who consumed it?
• What does the discourse say about society in general?
• How is meaning being conveyed in the context of the discourse?

Make sure that you include all aspects of the discourse context in your analysis to eliminate any confounding factors. For example, are there any social, political, or historical reasons as to why the discourse would exist as it does? What other factors could contribute to the existence of the discourse? Discourse can be influenced by many factors, so it is vital that you take as many of them into account as possible.

Once you’ve investigated the context of your data, you’ll have a much better idea of what you’re working with, and you’ll be far more familiar with your content. It’s then time to begin your analysis.

Step 4: Analyze your data

When performing a discourse analysis, you’ll need to look for themes and patterns .  To do this, you’ll start by looking at codes , which are specific topics within your data. You can find more information about the qualitative data coding process here.

Next, you’ll take these codes and identify themes. Themes are patterns of language (such as specific words or sentences) that pop up repeatedly in your data, and that can tell you something about the discourse. For example, if you’re wanting to know about women’s perspectives of living in a certain area, potential themes may be “safety” or “convenience”.

In discourse analysis, it is important to reach what is called data saturation . This refers to when you’ve investigated your topic and analyzed your data to the point where no new information can be found. To achieve this, you need to work your way through your data set multiple times, developing greater depth and insight each time. This can be quite time consuming and even a bit boring at times, but it’s essential.

Once you’ve reached the point of saturation, you should have an almost-complete analysis and you’re ready to move onto the next step – final review.

Step 5: Review your work

Hey, you’re nearly there. Good job! Now it’s time to review your work.

This final step requires you to return to your research questions and compile your answers to them, based on the analysis. Make sure that you can answer your research questions thoroughly, and also substantiate your responses with evidence from your data.

Usually, discourse analysis studies make use of appendices, which are referenced within your thesis or dissertation. This makes it easier for reviewers or markers to jump between your analysis (and findings) and your corpus (your evidence) so that it’s easier for them to assess your work.

When answering your research questions, make you should also revisit your research aims and objectives , and assess your answers against these. This process will help you zoom out a little and give you a bigger picture view. With your newfound insights from the analysis, you may find, for example, that it makes sense to expand the research question set a little to achieve a more comprehensive view of the topic.

Let’s recap…

In this article, we’ve covered quite a bit of ground. The key takeaways are:

• Discourse analysis is a qualitative analysis method used to draw meaning from language in context.
• You should consider using discourse analysis when you wish to analyze the functions and underlying meanings of language in context.
• The two overarching approaches to discourse analysis are language-in-use and socio-political approaches .
• The main steps involved in undertaking discourse analysis are deciding on your analysis approach (based on your research questions), choosing a data collection method, collecting your data, investigating the context of your data, analyzing your data, and reviewing your work.

If you have any questions about discourse analysis, feel free to leave a comment below. If you’d like 1-on-1 help with your analysis, book an initial consultation with a friendly Grad Coach to see how we can help.

Psst… there’s more (for free)

This post is part of our dissertation mini-course, which covers everything you need to get started with your dissertation, thesis or research project. 

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24 Comments

This was really helpful to me

I would like to know the importance of discourse analysis analysis to academic writing

In academic writing coherence and cohesion are very important. DA will assist us to decide cohesiveness of the continuum of discourse that are used in it. We can judge it well.

Thank you so much for this piece, can you please direct how I can use Discourse Analysis to investigate politics of ethnicity in a particular society

Fantastically helpful! Could you write on how discourse analysis can be done using computer aided technique? Many thanks

Thanks, we are doing discourse analysis as a subject this year and this helped a lot!

Please can you help explain and answer this question? With illustrations,Hymes’ Acronym SPEAKING, as a feature of Discourse Analysis.

What are the three objectives of discourse analysis especially on the topic how people communicate between doctor and patient

Very useful Thank you for your work and information

thank you so much , I wanna know more about discourse analysis tools , such as , latent analysis , active powers analysis, proof paths analysis, image analysis, rhetorical analysis, propositions analysis, and so on, I wish I can get references about it , thanks in advance

Its beyond my expectations. It made me clear everything which I was struggling since last 4 months. 👏 👏 👏 👏

Thank you so much … It is clear and helpful

Thanks for sharing this material. My question is related to the online newspaper articles on COVID -19 pandemic the way this new normal is constructed as a social reality. How discourse analysis is an appropriate approach to examine theese articles?

This very helpful and interesting information

This was incredible! And massively helpful.

I’m seeking further assistance if you don’t mind.

Found it worth consuming!

What are the four types of discourse analysis?

very helpful. And I’d like to know more about Ethnography-based discourse analysis as I’m studying arts and humanities, I’d like to know how can I use it in my study.

Amazing info. Very happy to read this helpful piece of documentation. Thank you.

is discourse analysis can take data from medias like TV, Radio…?

I need to know what is general discourse analysis

Direct to the point, simple and deep explanation. this is helpful indeed.

Thank you so much was really helpful

really impressive

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Methodology

• Critical Discourse Analysis | Definition, Guide & Examples

Critical Discourse Analysis | Definition, Guide & Examples

Published on August 23, 2019 by Amy Luo . Revised on June 22, 2023.

Critical discourse analysis (or discourse analysis) is a research method for studying written or spoken language in relation to its social context. It aims to understand how language is used in real life situations.

When you conduct discourse analysis, you might focus on:

• The purposes and effects of different types of language
• Cultural rules and conventions in communication
• How values, beliefs and assumptions are communicated
• How language use relates to its social, political and historical context

Discourse analysis is a common qualitative research method in many humanities and social science disciplines, including linguistics, sociology, anthropology, psychology and cultural studies.  

Table of contents

What is discourse analysis used for, how is discourse analysis different from other methods, how to conduct discourse analysis, other interesting articles.

Conducting discourse analysis means examining how language functions and how meaning is created in different social contexts. It can be applied to any instance of written or oral language, as well as non-verbal aspects of communication such as tone and gestures.

Materials that are suitable for discourse analysis include:

• Books, newspapers and periodicals
• Marketing material, such as brochures and advertisements
• Business and government documents
• Websites, forums, social media posts and comments
• Interviews and conversations

By analyzing these types of discourse, researchers aim to gain an understanding of social groups and how they communicate.

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Unlike linguistic approaches that focus only on the rules of language use, discourse analysis emphasizes the contextual meaning of language.

It focuses on the social aspects of communication and the ways people use language to achieve specific effects (e.g. to build trust, to create doubt, to evoke emotions, or to manage conflict).

Instead of focusing on smaller units of language, such as sounds, words or phrases, discourse analysis is used to study larger chunks of language, such as entire conversations, texts, or collections of texts. The selected sources can be analyzed on multiple levels.

Discourse analysis is a qualitative and interpretive method of analyzing texts (in contrast to more systematic methods like content analysis ). You make interpretations based on both the details of the material itself and on contextual knowledge.

There are many different approaches and techniques you can use to conduct discourse analysis, but the steps below outline the basic structure you need to follow. Following these steps can help you avoid pitfalls of confirmation bias that can cloud your analysis.

Step 1: Define the research question and select the content of analysis

To do discourse analysis, you begin with a clearly defined research question . Once you have developed your question, select a range of material that is appropriate to answer it.

Discourse analysis is a method that can be applied both to large volumes of material and to smaller samples, depending on the aims and timescale of your research.

Step 2: Gather information and theory on the context

Next, you must establish the social and historical context in which the material was produced and intended to be received. Gather factual details of when and where the content was created, who the author is, who published it, and whom it was disseminated to.

As well as understanding the real-life context of the discourse, you can also conduct a literature review on the topic and construct a theoretical framework to guide your analysis.

Step 3: Analyze the content for themes and patterns

This step involves closely examining various elements of the material – such as words, sentences, paragraphs, and overall structure – and relating them to attributes, themes, and patterns relevant to your research question.

Step 4: Review your results and draw conclusions

Once you have assigned particular attributes to elements of the material, reflect on your results to examine the function and meaning of the language used. Here, you will consider your analysis in relation to the broader context that you established earlier to draw conclusions that answer your research question.

If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• Normal distribution
• Measures of central tendency
• Chi square tests
• Confidence interval
• Quartiles & Quantiles
• Cluster sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Thematic analysis
• Cohort study
• Peer review
• Ethnography

Research bias

• Implicit bias
• Cognitive bias
• Conformity bias
• Hawthorne effect
• Availability heuristic
• Attrition bias
• Social desirability bias

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Luo, A. (2023, June 22). Critical Discourse Analysis | Definition, Guide & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved September 28, 2023, from https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/discourse-analysis/

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So, the time has come to analyse language, but you don't know where to start. No need to fear - we've got your back! It doesn't matter if it's a novel, poem, song lyrics, a poster, or a magazine cover; the chances are you want to analyse a type of discourse, which will require a discourse analysis approach.

This article will introduce the concept of discourse analysis, discuss when and why we use discourse analysis, describe the different types of discourse analysis, and provide step-by-step instructions on conducting discourse analysis with an example.

Discourse analysis meaning

Discourse analysis (sometimes named discourse studies) is a qualitative research method that involves an in-depth examination of any written, spoken, non-verbal, and visual language in context .

Discourse analysts are interested in how language can impart meaning. This could be vocabulary, use of grammar, gestures, facial expressions, imagery, language techniques, and many more. They analyse whole chunks (rather than individual utterances) of both planned and spontaneous written, spoken, and visual language.

An essential part of discourse analysis is examining language use within its social context . This means the societal norms, political climate, time, place, intended audience, and the speaker's socio-cultural background must all be considered as they can play a role in the meaning of language and how it's interpreted.

Discourse analysis (DA) is a varied and diverse research method used across multiple disciplines, such as linguistics, sociology, media studies, history, and more.

Why conduct discourse analysis?

We analyse discourse to understand the world better and how language is used in real life. By examining the social use of language, we can appreciate its multiple functions, such as creating meaning and maintaining certain social norms and common knowledge.

A discourse analyst may examine the written language and images used on the front page of a newspaper to see what narrative it might be trying to portray and why. To understand this, they would have to consider the owner of the newspaper, the intended audience, and the current political climate and world events.

When to use discourse analysis?

Discourse analysis is the perfect method for looking at the relationship between language and broader social issues, such as language and power , language and gender , language and inequality, and language in the media.

We can also use discourse analysis to see how people interact with each other in different situations and the impact language can have on society and vice versa.

Common examples of discourse we can conduct discourse analysis on are;

Conversations

Song lyrics

These are just a few examples - you can really conduct discourse analysis on anything!

Discourse analysis: what's analysed

There are no guidelines on what aspects of language you should analyse when conducting DA. How you undertake your analysis will depend on your research question and the purpose of your study. However, here is a list of language features that are commonly analysed as they can impart meaning.

Vocabular y - e.g. word choice, jargon , special lexicon.

Grammar - e.g. type of sentences, grammatical voice , use of affixes.

Punctuation - e.g. use of exclamation marks, capital letters etc.

Genre - Is it a newspaper, song, novel, etc.

Non-verbals - e.g. facial expressions, body language, pauses.

Paralinguistic features - e.g. tone, pitch, intonation .

Pragmatics - what are the extended or hidden meanings?

Grice's conversational maxims - are useful for reviewing power relations in spoken discourse .

Images and colour - how do they add to the meaning of the discourse ?

Relationship between the discourse and the wider social context

Types of discourse analysis

The two main types of discourse analysis are language-in-use analysis and socio-political analysis.

Let's take a look at each of these in more detail.

Language-in-use discourse analysis

Language-in-use discourse analysis focuses more on the technical details of language, such as grammar, syntax (the arrangement of words, phrases, and clauses), phonetics , phonology , and prosody . A language-in-use approach to DA involves a highly descriptive and in-depth examination of linguistic properties.

A discourse analyst may examine the speech patterns of teenagers to see when they use contractions (shortened word forms), double negatives (e.g. I ain't got no time ), neologisms (a newly created word) etc. In this case , the researcher is interested in the minor technicalities of the language.

Socio-political discourse analysis

This approach is less concerned with the technical details of language, and more focused on the impact language can have on society and vice versa. Socio-political discourse analysis looks at the relationship between language and society, such as language and power .

The most common socio-political discourse analysis approach is critical discourse analysis.

Critical discourse analysis

Critical discourse analysis (CDA) is primarily concerned with language's role in constructing ideology and power. The approach views language as a form of social practice and aims to investigate the ideologies and power dynamics hidden within discourse.

Critical discourse analysis can also be used to critically examine language's role in creating and maintaining social inequality.

Work by the researcher and analyst Norman Fairclough has been highly influential and pioneering in the development of critical discourse analysis as a research method.

The main aims and principles of CDA include;

To see how language can create and maintain ideologies.

To uncover power structures.

To understand how power can be maintained and abused through language.

To encourage people to question what they are being told and why.

To give a voice back to historically marginalised or oppressed people.

Consider how gender, ethnicity, race, and culture are represented and constructed in discourse.

Recognising the marginalised people in society and who the most powerful are.

According to Fairclough (1984), critical discourse analysis can typically be split into two disciplines: 1

Power in discourse - the lexicon, strategies, and language structures used to create power.

Power behind discourse - The sociological and ideological reasons behind who is asserting power over others and why.

Semiotic analysis

Semiotic analysis is predominantly used for multimodal discourse (usually printed communication mediums containing words, images, graphics, colours, etc.).

When conducting semiotic analysis, we take a medium of communication (e.g., a website, poster, textbook, or advertisement) and interpret the denotative (literal) and connotative (implied) meaning of the different types of discourse working together in context.

Semiotic analysis recognises that written and spoken language isn't the only part of discourse that can carry meaning, and it's important to consider how things such as imagery can significantly impact how we interpret things.

A poster with the words' knife crime kills' next to a black man may make the audience associate knife crime with black men. We would then have to question whether this was the author's intention and if so why.

Discourse analysis methodology

Discourse analysis is an interdisciplinary research method (i.e. used across many subjects); therefore, research methods will vary depending on the subject, purpose of the study, and research question .

There is no right or wrong way to conduct discourse analysis - which is good news as it's difficult to get it wrong. However, this doesn't help when the time comes to conduct your analysis, and you don't know where to start!

With this in mind, we've compiled a useful 'tool kit' based on Fairclough's (1995) three-dimensional model to help you get started. 2

Fairclough's model proposes discourse be analysed in three stages:

Description - analysis of the text itself, including grammar, syntax, lexicon, phonological features, literary devices (e.g. rhetorical questions), and images.

Interpretation - how discourse is produced and distributed and then consumed by the reader/listener, i.e. who is the author and the audience.

Explanation - viewing the discourse as a social practice and placing it in the context of wider society.

When we view discourse as a social practice, we consider it as something we perform or 'do', typically within a community. The philosopher Foucault stated that discourse as a social practice is often used to control or repress people by legitimising some practices and disqualifying others.

When conducting discourse analysis, you should also ask yourself the following questions;

Who wrote this text, and who is it intended for?

What narrative is being promoted?

Who benefits from this text? Who is marginalised by it?

Is the evidence credible?

What ideas are normalised by this discourse, and what are disqualified?

How do the images, colours, text, etc., work together if it is a multimodal text?

Discourse analysis example

For this example, we will conduct a discourse analysis on song lyrics using Fairclough's three-dimensional model. The chosen song is 'British Bombs' by Declan Mckenna (2019).

'Great snakes are we moving already

Good gravy did you say it cost a penny or two

Well talking bout the bad starts

My baby brother has already got a gas mask

It's a good old-fashioned landslide

Killing with your hands tied

In the homemade rope

Set sail babe we read it in the mail - no hope now

Great way to fool me again hun

Great acting, it's good what you tell em

Great Britain won't stand for felons

Great British bombs in the Yemen'

We have decided to undertake a socio-political analysis due to the genre of the discourse (a song) and the evident political influence behind the lyrics.

1. Description (analysis of the language itself)

This is a pop/rock song with somewhat emotive language, which can be seen in thought-provoking words and phrases, such as ' My baby brother has already got a gas mask' and ' Killing with your hands tied'. Repetition of the word great and alliteration of the letter B have been used to draw connections between ' Great Britain ' and ' Great British bombs' .

The terms ' Great snakes' and ' Good gravy' were common phrases in 1920-30s Britain. Mckenna may be trying to allude to British attitudes and society during the World War era, which are often described as being ignorant and overly patriotic.

2. Interpretation (the author and the audience and their potential interpretation)

The song was written by a young British musician and will likely be listened to by predominantly young British people. Mckenna may be using his music to draw his audience's attention to the use of British bombs in Yemen.

The lyrics ' Set sail babe we read it in the mail - no hope now' may be criticising the British newspaper The Daily Mail , which has often been accused of presenting a biased view of British politics. In doing this, he may influence listeners to consider where they get their news.

Mckenna uses slang associated with younger generations, such as ' hun' in the line ' Great way to fool me again, hun'. Using recognisable language may engage his audience and potentially encourage them to think more about politics.

3. Explanation (placing discourse into wider societal context)

The line ' Great British bombs in the Yemen' is likely referring to the UK's sale of British-produced bombs to Saudi Arabia, which they have dropped on civilians in Yemen since 2015. 3

Yemen is a country in the Persian Gulf that borders Saudi Arabia and Oman.

By placing the lyrics into a socio-political context, we can interpret that McKenna finds the use of British bombs hypocritical, which is arguably highlighted in the following lyrics, ' Great Britain won't stand for felons. Great British bombs in the Yemen.'

Discourse Analysis - Key Takeaways

• Discourse analysis is a qualitative research method that involves an in-depth examination of any written, spoken, non-verbal, and visual language in context .

We analyse discourse to understand how language is used in real life and how it can be used to create and maintain social norms and common knowledge.

When conducting discourse analysis some of the things we should consider are; vocabulary, grammar, tone, genre , imagery, pragmatics , and the discourse's relationship to society.

We can use discourse analysis on novels, speeches, adverts, lyrics, newspapers, and more.

The two main types of discourse analysis are language-in-use analysis and socio-political analysis. The most common socio-political analysis is critical discourse analysis.

• N. Fairclough. Language and Power . 1984.
• N. Fairclough. Critical Discourse Analysis: The Critical Study of Language. 1995.
• BBC News. Yemen: UK to resume Saudi arms sales after humanitarian review. 2020.

Frequently Asked Questions about Discourse Analysis

--> what are the advantages of discourse analysis.

Some of the advantages of discourse analysis include gaining a better understanding of the role of language, tracking language changes, revealing hidden ideologies and power structures hidden within language, understanding how society can affect language and vice versa, and more. 

--> What is the difference between content and discourse analysis?

Content analysis is a systematic and typically quantitative research method that codes and sorts data from texts. It is less subjective than discourse analysis and relies less on the researchers' interpretations. 

--> What is the main focus of discourse analysis?

The main focus of discourse analysis is gaining a deeper understanding of how and why language is used to part meaning within a societal context. 

--> What are the elements of discourse analysis?

Elements to analyse when conducting discourse analysis include; vocabulary, grammar, genre, punctuation, paralinguistic features (tone, pitch, accent, etc.), body language, pragmatics, imagery, and the language's relationship to the wider society.

--> How can discourse analysis be helpful in English language teaching?

Language teachers conduct discourse analysis on the interactions happening in their classrooms to see when and why good and bad language use takes place.

Final Discourse Analysis Quiz

Discourse analysis quiz - teste dein wissen.

Who is considered a pioneer of critical discourse analysis?

Show answer

Show question

What type of research method is discourse analysis?

Qualitative 

Images can be considered a part of discourse

Fill in the blank:

Discourse   analysts are interested in how language can impart _____.

Discourse analysts analyse 

Both planned and spontaneous speech

An essential part of discourse analysis is examining language use within its   social ______. 

There is a set way to conduct discourse analysis

List three types of mediums you could conduct discourse analysis on

Newspapers 

Song lyrics 

How can Grice's Conversational Maxims be useful in discourse analysis?

They can help reveal who holds the power in a conversation. For example, who is deciding the topic of the conversation.

What are the two main types of discourse analysis?

Language-in-use and socio-political

What type of discourse analysis is critical discourse analysis?

Socio-political 

If you wanted to examine the use of punctuation in an advert, what type of discourse analysis would you use?

Language-in-use

According to Fairclough (1984), critical discourse analysis can typically be split into two disciplines. What are they?

Power in discourse   - the lexicon, strategies, and language structures used to create power.

• Power behind discourse   - The sociological and ideological reasons behind who is asserting power over others and why.

What type of analysis is typically used for multimodal discourse?

What are the three stages of Fairclough's (1995) three-dimensional model?

Interpretation 

Explanation 

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Meaning of discourse analysis in English

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• Discourse analysis may uncover conflicting discourses and thereby suggest conflicting values .
• Using discourse analysis , this study examines the representation of prescription medicines in the UK newsprint media .
• She approached gender issues in religion from the perspective of discourse analysis .
• The great work of discourse analysis always lies in deciding what it is about a corpus of texts that would repay close analysis .
• abbreviated form
• accommodation
• Americanism
• productively
• receptively

Examples of discourse analysis

Translations of discourse analysis.

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Word of the Day

a person whose job is changing words, especially written words, into a different language

Scarce, scant and sparse (Ways of saying ‘not enough’)

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Discourse Analysis – Definition & How to Do It

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Discourse analysis utilizes a unique methodology designed to reveal the underlying significance of both written and spoken language. This methodology is often a focal point of study in higher education courses related to humanities, linguistics, or social sciences.

In this piece, we will delve into the specific applications and nuances of discourse analysis, providing a detailed, step-by-step guide to assist you in incorporating this methodology into your scholarly work.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

• 1 Discourse Analysis – In a Nutshell
• 2 Definition: Discourse analysis
• 3 What is discourse analysis used for?
• 4 Discourse analysis vs. other methods
• 5 Discourse analysis: Step-by-step
• 6 Discourse analysis: Advantages vs. disadvantages

Discourse Analysis – In a Nutshell

• Discourse analysis can reveal deep motivations and meanings behind written and spoken language.
• This technique is useful to students taking humanities, linguistics, or social sciences courses.
• Learning to use discourse analysis can enrich your academic work.

Definition: Discourse analysis

Discourse analysis, which is sometimes abbreviated as DA, is a set of research methodologies created to uncover deep layers of meaning in different forms of speech, whether they are written or spoken.

As a research method, discourse analysis does not simply analyze language. Instead, it’s a tool that can reveal how language is used to express meaning and/or to achieve specific communicative goals.

You can apply different methods and perspectives to discourse analysis.

Discourse can be analyzed by taking into account the premises and assumptions of critical studies, anthropology, applied linguistics, sociology, translation studies, communication science, and psychology.

What is discourse analysis used for?

In academia, discourse analysis plays an important role in helping reveal nuances that can be very valuable in qualitative research . As such, it is commonly used by students of history, politics, sociology, linguistics, or gender studies to analyze past or current examples of discourse and to draw conclusions about the links between language and society.

As a student, you would want to use discourse analysis methodologies to reach a deeper level of analysis that can have a positive impact on your grades.

Discourse analysis vs. other methods

Discourse analysis is not the only methodology that studies language. However, it substantially differs from other methods, like grammar analysis. While the latter is concerned with grammatical or syntactical structure, discourse analysis helps the researcher or student dig deep under such structures to find meaningful insights.

Another difference is that language-focused analysis techniques tend to study language components in isolation, whereas discourse analysis takes those elements and evaluates them considering the context in which they happen.

In addition, discourse analysis examines authentic forms of language as they occur in real life, while researchers or students using other methods are more likely to create their own samples and examples.

Discourse analysis: Step-by-step

1. Define your primary questions

If you’re using discourse analysis as a research tool, you’ll want to frame your research with one or two relevant research questions. This will help you stay on topic and bring coherence to your work.

2. Choose your analytical approach

Next, you want to choose an analytical approach that will help shape and guide your discourse assessment. Which approach you choose will depend on your course and degree subject. For example, if you’re studying anthropology, you could choose to interpret your discourse analysis findings based on postmodernist theory. Or if you’re studying media and communication, you could choose a semiotic approach.

3. Collect your data

This is where you gather your research materials, which can be written texts, conversation transcripts, videos, speeches, debates, etc.

4. Define the context

Be as specific as you can about the context in which the discourse takes place. Here you can consider social, political, historical, or geographical data. Then, you can start making hypotheses as to how context influences discourse, and vice versa.

5. Code your data

Coding means systematically tagging research data, based on meaningful categories. For example, if you were analyzing a political speech, you could create various data categories based on the themes that keep appearing throughout the speech (e.g. democracy, community, identity), then you would find all statements relevant to each theme.

Also, make sure the themes are related to your research question/s.

6. Look for patterns

Go over your coded materials and try to find recurring patterns. Are certain words, sentences, or ideas repeated? If you’re analyzing conversations, does one person dominate the interaction? Are there silences or pauses?

7. Analyze language use

Here, you go into detail about the various aspects of language use, such as metaphors, jargon, use of active and passive voice, use of persuasive statements, etc.

8. Interpret your findings

Keeping your research data and analytical framework in mind, try to uncover the meaning of the discourse you’re analyzing, always relative to your research question/s. Make sure you present evidence in support of your interpretation.

9. Summarize your findings

You can close a discourse analysis exercise with a summary of your findings and suggest areas for potential future research.

Discourse analysis: Advantages vs. disadvantages

What are the types of discourse analysis.

In academic settings, there are four main types of discourse analysis:

• Focuses on analyzing how language is used to describe the characteristics of people, objects, concepts, or events.
• Attempts to uncover the underlying story behind a text, speech, or communicative interaction.
• Explores how language is used to tilt the audience in favor or against a topic or issue.
• Examines language-in-use and how it conveys information.

Does discourse analysis only study language?

Not exclusively. In some cases, discourse analysis methodologies analyze non-verbal factors (such as body language or intonation) in order to reveal the rich meaning behind communicative acts.

What are the three most important factors in discourse analysis?

The context in which discourse takes place, as well as the patterns and themes that emerge from language use.

Does discourse analysis have applications outside academia?

Yes, it is also used by political analysts, in social policy, and in marketing research.

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Discourse analysis is a qualitative research method used commonly in the field of social science, humanities, cultural studies, and more. The approach refers to the process of analyzing a written or spoken language in its social context. 

When you google the word “ Discourse ” the first thing to come up is “written or spoken communication or debate”. And as Cambridge would say, “discourse is communication in speech or writing”. 

What we get to understand in simple words is, Discourse refers to a discussion concerning a topic. It can be done in writing or even face to face. In other words, discourse can be communicated through words.

For instance; 

• A teacher discussing math with his students.
• A team talking about their project.

Let’s understand what is discourse analysis and how it is used in everyday life. 

What exactly is Discourse Analysis?

According to the famous Oxford Dictionary, Discourse Analysis is “Linguistics, a method of analyzing the structure of texts or utterances longer than one sentence, taking into account both their linguistic content and their sociolinguistic context; analysis performed using this method.”

Discourse Analysis is a method to study the written & spoken language which deals mostly with its social use. Understanding the cultural and social context of the languages is an important agenda for discourse analysis. Using that helps to mend their linguistic and sociological aspects. 

Discourse analysis aims to research the working of the language and learn the meaning derived from the words, depending on the situation. In the process of analysis, the context of the conversation is taken into consideration along with its meaning. 

For instance, the context may include the location of the speaker or non-verbal cues (body language) at the time of the discourse. In written communication, images and symbols used may encompass the context. 

Why do you need Discourse Analysis?

Let’s understand with an example. 

You are analyzing a speaker’s speech, for you to understand the context of his speech completely, you will need to study the background of the speaker, why did he choose to speak on that topic, the background of the audience, and that of the locality he is speaking in. 

One can also predict the power imbalance amongst the people by observing them talk to each other. How they are cultivated in culture and communicated through a language. Hence this analysis approach can prove a perfect fit to assess social issues.

A politician (someone with more power) talking to their followers (someone with less power).

You can use discourse analysis if you want to understand the following factors in the way the two groups communicate. 

• Power or Inequality 
• How do the two groups communicate in a specific context (in a public procession with media Vs. in a meeting with no media)
• Ideology – how ideas and beliefs are shared using verbal language
• Achieving social goals using verbal communication 

Discourse analysis can be a suitable tool to study social issues such as power imbalance. Moreover, there are many approaches you can use to understand discourse in its social context. Let’s take a look at these approaches in the following section. 

Approaches to Discourse Analysis

Depending on one’s purpose of the analysis, there are two main approaches of Discourse Analysis one can use. These are namely:

Language in use:

This approach focuses on the regular use of language in communication. It includes paying attention to sentence structures, grammar, phonology, etc. It traces back to formal ways of language usage, language in use pays attention to proper rules of grammar and when the language sounds ok to a native. 

This method helps in understanding the technicality of the language and how it is used in day-to-day conversations. 

The language English has the prefix “un” and the suffix “able” as in “unpredictable” However, an English speaker may say, “That’s un-flipping-predictable”. From a language-in-use perspective, the infix “flipping” could be confusing. 

Discourse analysis can be used to examine what is the role of the infix, or how it helps in everyday conversation. 

Socio-Political:

This approach of discourse analysis focuses on not only the technicalities but also on how a language influences the social and political context and another way round. 

• Critical Discourse Analysis- focuses on the power spectrum. Eg: Teachers and their students.
• Normalized power- firm and suggestive, refers to one’s existence in the society and within its norms. E.g., people not talking in the library.
• Repressive power – is confidently believed. E.g.: parents threaten their kids with a punishment.

If you look closely, the above sub-approaches are related to each other.

Steps to carry out in Discourse Analysis

Finalize your approach:.

You need to decide what approach you want to use. This depends on what you are going to use discourse analysis for. Understand the aim and objective of the problem and research questions. You need to have an approach or a combination of an approach that best satisfies your research and best aligns with your study’s purpose.

Gathering Data: 

Once you have finalized your approach, it’s time to collect your data. Discourse analysis uses data in the form of talk or text. 

You can use the following resources to gather qualitative data to examine discourse: 

• Newspapers and periodicals
• Brochures or other marketing materials
• Government documents 
• Social media comments, online forums, and website comments/reviews
• Interviews or qualitative surveys

To avoid irrelevant and redundant data, make sure to answer the “what” “why” and “who” questions with respect to your case study. This will help you save time and keep your research on the right track.

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Investigating context:

The key is to understand the concept and its meaning. Look to it that you come up with answers to

• What is it?
• When did it take place?
• Where did it happen?
• Who was in it?
• What does it say about society?
• How is it conveyed?

Analyzing gathered data:

After collecting the relevant data, look for patterns and themes. Examine elements you identify in the data and relate them to the themes and patterns relevant to your research purpose. 

For example, you can examine words or statements that relate to the dominance of the politician towards the followers. The words can include themes that reflect values or beliefs towards those with less power or body language that shows authority. 

Final review:

This includes returning to your research questions and seeing that you have satisfied all concerning requirements. After assigning attributes to the elements, you should start examining the meaning of the language. 

Analyze in a broader context to draw a better conclusion for your research.  

Discourse Analysis: Real-Word Example

The example is how a healthcare facility used discourse analysis to understand the dissonance between patients and care providers .

In a study funded by The Health Foundation , discourse analysis was applied to transcripts of conversations between doctors & patients were used to examine where misunderstandings were occurring. 

Two consultation audio-recording of 25 patients of breast cancer diagnostic consultations were analyzed using theme-oriented discourse analysis to investigate the moment of dissonance.  

The result of the discourse analysis showed that 8 out of 25 patients or their partners deferred the clinician’s treatment decision. Six patients asked for a recommendation. 

In medicinal science, discourse analysis helps physicians ensure that they are understood by their patients, especially those with limited language skills. 

Summing up,

You are all set to conduct your discourse analysis. The vital thing to remember is that the process considers the social & cultural context in which language is used. 

Therefore, discourse analysis can be used in business research, academic research, or government research, as long as the aim is to understand the aspect of communication. 

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Discourse analysis

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What is discourse analysis?

Discourse analysis is a research method that helps understand the use of language in real-life situations. It is used for studying both written and spoken language in relation to its social context. It considers language to be the way people express themselves rather than just the technical pieces like words and sentences. 

It discovers how language is influenced by and shapes the social context in which it takes place. In this situation, language could mean text or speech and context means the form in which the text or speech occurs. 

Discourse analysis has an interdisciplinary approach that could be used for the study of various social domains in different types of research. It involves examining language beyond the sentence to gain an understanding of how it functions in a social context.

What are the types of discourse analysis?

You can divide discourse analysis into two approaches: language-in-use (or socially situated text and talk) and sociopolitical.

The language-in-use approach concentrates on the micro dimensions of language, grammatical structures, and the manner in which these features interplay within a social context. 

An example of the socio-political approach would be critical discourse analysis (CDA). Critical Discourse Analysis concentrates on social problems, particularly on the role of discourse in the production and reproduction of power abuse or domination. It sets up a relationship between language and power and is fundamentally dealing  with the analysis of how language reflects and reveals complex relationships of dominance, discrimination, power and control.  

What is discourse analysis used for?

Discourse analysis is used to examine and understand the manner in which language functions and how meaning is created in different social contexts. Discourse analysis can be used on any instance of written or oral language, in addition to non-verbal aspects of communication like tone and gestures.

Researchers use discourse analysis techniques to gain a better understanding of the world by investigating the underlying meaning of the things that people say and the manner in which they say it, whether in face-to-face conversation, documents, non-verbal interaction, or images. 

This makes it possible for researchers to get a better understanding of social groups and how they communicate.

Discourse analysis is rather useful for studying the underlying meaning of a spoken or written text as it considers the social and historical contexts.

What are the advantages of discourse analysis?

The most significant advantages of discourse analysis are:

• It assists researchers in uncovering the motivation behind a text by making it possible for them to view a problem from a higher stance. 
• It is helpful for studying the underlying meaning of a spoken or written text as it considers the social and historical contexts.
• It aids in understanding the function of language and how discourse can be used to spur and nurture positive social change.

What are the disadvantages of discourse analysis?

The main disadvantages of discourse analysis are:

• Since there are various approaches to discourse analysis, it might be hard to choose the most appropriate approach for a specific setting.
• Discourse analysis can be a time-consuming task.
• Some say that it is no more than a deconstructive reading of a text to understand its underlying meaning—it does not provide answers to questions based on scientific research.

How is discourse analysis applied in NLP?

Discourse Analysis in Natural Language Processing (NLP) is applied to improve the understanding of language in a broader concept. It can be used in these ways-

1. Coreference Resolution

‍ Discourse Analysis helps in coreference resolution, which is a task of finding different expressions that refer to the same entity. It is essential to understand the context of discourse in order to accurately identify and resolve coreference.

2. Cohesion and Coherence 

Discourse Analysis plays an important role in understanding and modeling coherence and cohesion in text. It mainly studies the relations between the overall flow of information and sentences, this is important for tasks like machine translation, text summarization and document classification.

3. Pragmatic Understanding

Discourse Analysis also helps in improving pragmatic understanding in NLP. Pragmatic focuses on understanding how language is used in certain contexts to convey meanings beyond the exact interpretation.The knowledge derived by using discourse analysis to pragmatic understanding in NLP models, helps capture the intended meaning in communication.

How to use discourse analysis in qualitative research?

Discourse analysis is also used as a qualitative research method, mainly in humanities and social sciences. Here are some ways discourse analysis is applied in qualitative research,

1. Rich Descriptive Analysis

Discourse analysis offers a rich and detailed analysis of language use that helps to gain an in-depth knowledge of how meaning is created, negotiated and transformed within certain social contexts.

2. Contextual Understanding

Discourse analysis highlights the significance of understanding language in its social and cultural context. It takes broader factors that influence the use and meaning of language into consideration. For example historical, political and social factors.  

3. Qualitative Data Analysis

Discourse analysis is a qualitative data analysis method that mainly focuses on interpreting any form of data (complex, textual, detailed, spoken, rich). It comprises coding, categorising data and finding patterns and themes present in the data.

How to conduct discourse analysis?

Conducting discourse analysis is a qualitative and interpretive way of analyzing texts. Interpretations are made based on the details of the material itself as well as on contextual knowledge . 

There are several approaches and techniques that could be used to conduct discourse analysis. Here are the basic steps involved in them:

1. Define the research question and select the content of analysis

You have to start with a clearly defined research question. After defining your research question, you need to choose a range of material that is most appropriate to answer it.

You can apply discourse analysis to large as well as smaller samples of data. The size of the sample depends on the aims and the timescale of your research.

2. Gather information and theory on the context

You now need to establish the social and historical context in which the material was produced and intended to be received. Collect the factual details of when and where the content was produced, who the author is, who published it, and whom the content was disseminated to.

In addition to understanding the real-life context of the discourse, you could even conduct a literature review on the topic and construct a theoretical framework that would help guide your analysis.

3. Analyze the content for themes and patterns

Now you have to closely and carefully examine various elements of the material like words, sentences, paragraphs, and overall structure and relate them to attributes, themes, and patterns that are relevant to your research question.

4. Review your results and draw conclusions

After you finish assigning particular attributes to elements of the material, you should reflect on your results to examine the function and meaning of the language used. Considering your analysis in relation to the broader context that you established earlier will allow you to ​​draw conclusions that will answer your research question.

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