Content or Discourse Analysis

As a research technique, Berger (2011) describes content analysis as “the systematic classification and description of communication content according to certain usually predetermined categories” (p.205). He points out that the technique may be used in the study of quantitative or qualitative data (Ibid.). Like Wimmer & Dominick (2006, p.154), he highlights the steps that a researcher ought to follow such as ensuring measurable scoring units and having a systematic coding system (p.209-211). In their discussion of

discourse analysis, Jørgensen & Phillips (2002) point out that the corpus of materials should be varied and could include advertisements, transcripts or interviews (p.78).

In this study, the corpus for analysis comprised of radio transcripts from Mega FM and Radio Wa. The starting point was the acquisition of the raw recordings of the two ‘peace radio’ programs from Mega FM (‘Dwog Cen Paco’ and ‘Ter Yat’) as well as ‘Vision for Peace’ from Radio Wa. I chose the first two because they are the pioneer ‘peace radio’

programmes in the country. Since their inception in 2001, the focus of those programmes was calling upon LRA combatants to renounce rebellion and escape from captivity as well as hosting the returnees to call upon their colleagues still in captivity to also return home. As pointed out in Section 1.2, both Mega FM and Radio Wa later introduced programmes that discussed issues of peace and conflict from a broader perspective. One of such programmes is ‘Ter Yat’, which I chose to analyze because of its unique feature of having a big panel composed of at least six members from various sectors of Ugandan society.

The material obtained from the stations covered the three months I undertook fieldwork from October through December 2009. Having obtained the broadcasts in Acholi and Langi, I hired two sets of translators who did a preliminary examination of the broadcasts and helped me determine the volume and nature of the content. In addition to its vastness, we noted that the broadcasts in the month of December were biased towards the discussion of the Christmas festive season. In order to obtain a broader scope of issues, I considered broadcasts from October and November. While both ‘Dwog Cen Paco’ and

‘Vision for Peace’ broadcast every Thursday, Ter Yat airs every Saturday. Therefore, for October 2009 there were four ‘Ter Yat’ broadcasts, five ‘Dwog Cen Paco’ broadcasts, and five ‘Vision for Peace’ broadcasts. For November, there were four ‘Ter Yat’

broadcasts, four ‘Dwog Cen Paco’ broadcasts, and four ‘Vision for Peace’ broadcasts.

While ‘Dwog Cen Paco’ and ‘Vision for Peace’ broadcasts are typically an hour in length, ‘Ter Yat’ is two hours, but with multiple commercial breaks and jingles.

In conducting content analysis, Reinard (2008) and Berger (2011) propose that the designed coding sheet ought to cover all the categories within the corpus of analysis ensuring that they are mutually exclusive. In designing the discourse-coding sheet, I incorporated the category of issues as set out in the research questions. To enhance consistency and reliability of the data, the same coding sheet was used to record all the broadcasts (Appendix 02). One of the biggest challenges dealing with the broadcasts, however, was what Johnstone (2002) notes as the disconnectedness of the transcribers.

He notes that transcripts are “by necessity a partial representation of talk” since in the process of transcribing the “most literal way to represent a speaker’s speech may not be the most desirable way to represent the speaker” (p.21). In other words, the meaning we derive from a speaker in a transcript is sometimes not what he/she intended. Bearing this in mind, I increased the level of reliability and dependability on the data by employing two research assistants who independently transcribed the texts while translating them from Acholi and Langi into English. As Reinard (2008) and Berger (2011) observe, proper training of coders increases the level of reliability and having more coders increases inter-coder reliability whereby the point is to measure the consistency by which each of the coders captures the same issues (p.123). Further, using independent translators increases the level of intertextual competence since the reading of texts can be nuanced depending on who is reading (Fairclough, 1992, 1995). While the coders followed a pre-determined set of variables in Appendix 02, they were also encouraged under “other observations” to note emerging issues such as the tone of the callers to the

radio shows, the attitude of the host and invited studio guests towards each other as well as towards callers. As the instrument in Appendix 02 shows, I was interested in each broadcast to establish who are identified as the key actors of development, peace-building, conflict and/or violence. With regard to the “macrostructure” analysis of the broadcasts, I used a grid of variables drawn from a literature review on the causative factors of conflict and violence as discussed in Chapter Five. The coding sheet was used to capture the issues raised in the broadcasts by the program hosts, the invited guests and audience members; as well as to note the keywords used during the discussions. At a

“microstructure” level analysis, I used the coding sheet to record the keywords that are used in the broadcasts to describe peace or conflict. Since it is not easy to record intertextuality on the coding sheets, I discussed with the translators the nuances that they were not able to write in the transcripts and made additional side notes. In the case of Ter Yat as well as Vision for Peace, I was also able to interview the producers and hosts of the programs using the transcripts as the guidelines. The producer and host of Dwog Cen Paco was unavailable for the interview, but the station manager and news editor were able to provide useful commentary on the program. The outcomes of the discourse analysis of the broadcasts is presented and discussed in Chapter 7.

6.1.2 Interviewing

Interviewing, according to Weinberg (2001) as well as Patton (2002) and Silverman (2004), is one of the most widely used research data collection method because it is the best way to find out from people what cannot be directly observed. Patton states that

“interviews yield direct quotations from people about their experiences, opinions, feelings, and knowledge” (p.4). To capture views from a variety of information-rich actors, I used a technique several scholars call in-depth interviewing (Patton, 2002;

Silverman, 2004; Wimmer & Dominick, 2006). For Wimmer & Dominick (2006), in-depth interviews are commended because they are usually longer, more detailed, customized to individual respondents and can easily be influenced by the interview climate (p.135). In this study, the choice of whom to interview was determined through an initial “purposive sampling” of information-rich respondents and I subsequently used the “snowball” approach to reach more respondents. To formulate the questions, I adopted what Patton (2002) calls a “standardized open-ended interview guide” whereby all interviewees in the same category are asked the same basic questions in the same order to facilitate the comparability of responses while organizing and analysing the data (pp.342-346) (Appendix 03). To enhance preparedness of the interviewees, I typically sent out the interview guide in advance along the letters seeking the interview (Appendix 05). Concerning the interview venues and time, respondents had the liberty to choose where and when, bearing in mind factors such as noise and other interference during the interview. All interviews were electronically recorded following a procedure where the interviewee signed a consent form (Appendix 08). In some cases, I made a follow-up of the interviews with email exchanges to get clarification on emerging issues post the interview. The responses from the interviews are presented in Chapters 7 and 9.