Analytic strategies and devices

One of the challenges in critical discourse analysis is that it requires the ability to “examine discourse creatively in all of its multifarious aspects and an open-mindedness to entertain multiple possibilities” (Wood & Kroger, 2000, p. 91). To facilitate an approach to analysis that examined multiple aspects of texts, I drew upon three main devices: the Initial Analysis Sheet (provided in Appendix E), the Sensitizing Devices for Reading and Analysing Texts suggested by Wood and Kroger (2000, pp. 91-95), and Analytic and Reflective Notes written at various stages of the analysis process. These three devices complemented each other well in balancing an open-minded and creative with a systematic and theoretically-grounded analysis. Each al device stimulated another degree and foci of critical reading and analysis, so that analysis was neither at risk of becoming ‘swept’ away in the amount of textual data (Phillips & Hardy, 2002), nor becoming constrained by a pre-derived analytic framework that might hinder unexpected readings and interpretations (Wodak & Meyer, 2009b).

Initial analysis sheet

The initial analysis sheet used in this study was developed based on the study’s

theoretical framework and its research questions, general and practical suggestions for conducting a CDA (Jäger & Maier, 2009; J. E. Richardson, 2007), as well examples of CDA sheets other authors had successfully employed (Jäger & Maier, 2009; Laliberte Rudman, 2003; Laliberte Rudman, Huot, & Dennhardt, 2009). The initial analysis sheet that I used contained several sections. While the first two sections provided space to record general bibliographical and contextual data about the information brochure that was analyzed, later sections provided guiding al questions. These questions drew my attention to various al foci, such as, a text’s overall organization, problematization, power relations, knowledges, subjectivities, representation of driving and the aging subject’s body, solution frames, risk and other rationalities, rhetorical means, and how all of these were drawn upon and produced within the text. The sheet was followed for every single text and information was compiled in a word document file, as well as on the brochures. Working with an electronic sheet format provided flexibility in that it allowed

others. However, in later stages of the analysis, such as cross-text and in-depth analysis of selected texts, I drew upon printed copies of the filled out electronic sheets. Having all information ‘around me’ and physically close to the brochures enabled me to effectively connect findings of different al levels and across texts.

During the overall research process, the initial analysis sheet was modified. For instance, as analysis proceeded, the sheet’s form and function were reviewed and modified in accordance with ongoing analysis processes. This happened in a productive interplay with the theoretical framework; new al questions which emerged were reviewed in relation to governmentality theory and included. For instance, initially, the sheet did not contain any questions addressing the body. Once it was found that the aging body was repeatedly addressed in various texts (e.g., driving was frequently constructed in relation to bodily functions), an additional set of questions around the body as an object of governing and related self-technologies (such as, monitoring and optimizing one’s body) were included. Besides their value in facilitating various analysis processes, the sheets also ensured that information gained was transparent and available in a comprehensive manner for each text and for each interpretation at various cycles of the analysis.

Sensitizing devices for reading and analyzing texts

While working with theoretically-derived analysis sheets facilitated systematic and theoretically-focused analysis, practical strategies for reading and analyzing texts facilitated my general critical reading skills. Particularly in the very early stages of data analysis, I reread Wood and Kroger’s list of ‘sensitizing devices for reading and

analyzing texts’ (2000, pp. 91-95) before I began working with a text more closely. These strategies helped me to read texts in different ways than I usually do. When reading texts for analysis, Wood and Kroger (2000), for instance, suggest considering “whether the critical issue is that something is included, not what it is (its particular content,

etc.)”(p.92), replacing a term or modal verb with another one (such as ‘aging drivers with ‘women’, ‘should’ with ‘must’), or actively reversing the taken for granted (such as treating problems as solutions, solutions as problems, strengths as weaknesses and so on). Using Wood and Kroger’s (2000) strategies facilitated me to notice assumptions and truth claims within a text that I took for granted and had not noticed upon an initial reading.

Repeatedly reflecting on the position from which I might take a particular reading for granted and on myself as the research ‘instrument’, using strategies as the above, assisted me in avoiding ‘jumping’ to overhasty conclusions that were neither founded in theory, nor reasonable given the analyzed material.

Analytic and reflective notes

Writing notes at different stages of the analysis process further enhanced analysis. In addition to recording impressions, insights, or specifically data-rich quotations on the analysis sheets, analytical and reflexive notes were written. To be easily accessed later, all notes were indexed with a keyword and date. These notes took different forms, such as free writing about thoughts, summarizing first insights across texts, or drawing visual understandings. Form and foci of notes altered as analysis moved from early to later cycles. For instance, earlier cycles of analysis involved more free and open notes about various ideas that came to mind, while later notes focused more on specifying and relating ideas, and systematically putting things together. As, well, conceptual drawings taken at various stages of the analysis were continually reworked, related and modified until they ‘fit’ and adequately integrated all levels of analysis and texts. One example of such a visual, reworked many times to eventually depict my final understanding of the text’s overall rhetorical structure, is provided at the end of the first findings chapter (Figure 27, Rhetorical structure of texts).

The analytical and reflexive notes facilitated data analysis in two ways. First, writing itself, requiring description, evaluation, explanation, and reflection, became a valuable strategy for analysis (L. Richardson, 2000). As an analytic strategy, writing was

particularly used when struggles, tensions, and differences within and across texts were noticed, but could not be ‘grasped’ nor made sense of yet. Second, documenting

analytical and reflexive thoughts, struggles and insights at multiple levels and times of analysis also provided a rich resource to facilitate analysis. Once analysis proceeded, previous information was accessible, could be drawn upon, connected and eventually merged in an enriching way.

For instance, one of the first overall, unfiltered impressions that I noted during an initial reading of some texts referred to how the texts reminded me of participating in a self-help group program, such as Alcoholics Anonymous or Weight Watchers (“These brochures make me feel like being in a self-help group”, Notes, May 21, 2010). My association seemed to be generated by familiar textures (Fairclough, 1995) in the analyzed texts. In my notes, I reflected on them as “accepting that one has a problem, developing

appropriate ‘steps’ to manage and watch the problematic self, consciously ‘avoiding’ situations that put one ‘at risk’, as well as the emphasis on taking on responsibility for one’s behavior” (Notes, May 21, 2010). This very first impression was reassessed, linked and theorized, when at later stages a more detailed understanding of the brochures’ overall rhetorical structure and their key discursive strategies was evolving (e.g., ‘know risks’ by learning facts, ‘assess individual risk’ by seeking self knowledge, ‘work towards reducing one’s risk’ by taking responsible action). The early note was also reviewed when a brochure read later in the process explicitly employed a quotation by the founder of Weight Watchers in constructing mobility as an individual ‘choice’ ("It's choice - not chance - that determines your destiny", X, p.29). As well, the analytical note, which let me reflect on what it exactly was that seemed to connect ‘driving in later life’ to ‘losing weight’, lead me to find relevant literature, such as the article Foucault goes to Weight Watchers (Heyes, 2006), that enhanced my critical analysis of structural elements within the texts which stressed practices of self-care.