METHODOLOGICAL CHALLENGES IN CRTICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS: EMPIRICAL RESEARCH DESIGN FOR GLOBAL JOURNALISTIC TEXTS

Abstract

Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is an interdisciplinary theoretical and methodological approach with a range of conceptual and methodological perspectives on discourse and global journalism. Thus, concept definitions, data selection and data analysis become three vital methodological decision making areas. This methodological paper describes and explains an empirical research design that operationalizes four positions on discourse as a facet of globalization: discourse as objective fact, discourse as social practice, discourse as power relations and discourse as discursive legitimation strategies. Discourse is analysed as objective fact through thematic analysis of discourse beyond the sentence level. Discourse as social practice is revealed at three levels of analysis: text analysis, discourse analysis and critical discourse analysis. Discourse as power relations is operationalized between local identities and global identities manifested as competing legitimation 'social actors'. Discourse as rhetoric is manifested in the form of discursive legitimation strategies. Forming a communicative event of global journalism, 152 proverbs of Yemen Times, which were published between 2003 and 2010, were collected as a topic area. The paper also shows a sample of analysis in which each perspective on discourse is explained.