Data analysis approach and procedures

The aims of data analysis were to:

 arrive at key domains, or categories of understanding and thence related sub-themes through which research questions could be usefully explored and accounts interpreted

 allow for further interpretive exploration of the data and potential identification of unanticipated and ‘emerging’ themes

 relate data found to findings, hypotheses and theoretical perspectives discussed in the literature review and methodology chapters

This has been achieved through an iterative process or ‘hermeneutic circle’ of close reading, categorisation, machine and manual coding and interpretation.

This section outlines theoretical underpinnings and practical procedures in more detail.

Methodological approach

The analysis of data collected for this study takes an overall hermeneutic phenomenological approach but one which also calls upon some key principles of critical discourse analysis discussed further on. This is because the research questions address not just personal experience and

perceptions, but the self-perceived political significance of people’s actions and their own evaluation of their participatory role.

Critical discourse analysis and social media

Power relationships have a bearing on all three RQs and in particular RQ3. Group discussions about politics lend themselves particularly well to exploration through a lens of Critical Discourse Analysis, (CDA, or more recently called ‘studies’, CDS), not least as relationships of power and questions of intent and efficacy are implicit to the subject of discussion. Albert and Salam discuss how social

126 | P a g e media can be conceptualised as a frontier and a discursive system with some institutional

characteristics where new forms of social relations can generate power differences and social practices which are not universally acceptable, and how CDA can provide a framework for studying social phenomena through discourse (Albert & Salam 2013). It can be used to identify and analyse covert and transparent power structures as manifested through language (Wodak & Meyer 2001).

The pertinence of the internet as one of the main sites for the discussion of social issues makes it an obvious destination for critical discourse analysis with a political focus, not least because its

dynamism, flexibility and accessibility make it inherently more democratic than print media (Mautner 2005).

CDA as developed by Fairclough is not so much a method as an interdisciplinary approach to the analysis of discourse. So wide ranging methods are permissible and in practice used for CDA, the standpoint of which is explicitly socio-political. Its starting point is that language is a form of social practice. From the CDA perspective, social practice and linguistic practice are essentially part and parcel. CDA has a strong focus on investigating how power relations in society are established and embedded through our use of language. Calling on linguisticand social theory and insights from Marx, Gramsci, Althusser, Habermas, Foucault and Bourdieu, language is seen as the main location ofideology, thus central to the understanding of power dynamics. The key point is the capacity of any given ethos to yield insights into how discourse reinforces or challenges power inequalities.

Fairclough developed a three-level framework for analysing discourse; texts, discursive practice and sociocultural practice, all three of which can be mapped against each other. Following his example, texts would be analysed at micro, meso and macro-levels of interpretation. At the micro-level, syntactic analysis, use of metaphor and rhetorical devices might be used. The meso-level looks at matters of production and consumption. The macro-level considers intertextual and interdiscursive

127 | P a g e aspects and societal context (Fairclough & Holes 1995). These are all of course relevant to the social media environment and their effects are interweaving. CDA elements can effectively complement an IPA/phenomenographic approach by addressing the power relationship aspects of discourse alongside lived experience and self-perception. From a critical realist perspective they pose different but complementary questions that can offer a dual lens with which to explore qualitative data, interpreting this as both lived experience and discursive practice (Hood 2016). This is the intent behind this analytical approach.

Hermeneutics and hermeneutic content analysis

Hermeneutic content analysis allows for the systematic description of qualitative data used in qualitative content analysis but also allows for deeper reflection on meaning of data, so it is about sense and deeper sense (Vieira and De Queiroz, 2017). It also suggests that the meaning of a text is to be found within its cultural context. The ‘hermeneutic circle’ is the process through which, the researcher analyses something holistically through its various parts. This will involve moving iteratively between aspects of the phenomenon and the whole, aiming to develop a growing understanding of a phenomenon (Paterson et al. 2005).

Practical analytical processes used in the study

Close observation and thematic and hermeneutic analysis of social media commentary were used during the development phase of the study in order to hone the research questions and identify the main domains discussed earlier in the chapter based on observed trends and themes, and thence to develop categorised topic discussion guides for interviews. In practice this meant sampling a targeted selection of online discussion groups, observing exchanges, scraping some data from open groups using NVivo and coding and analysing output for thematic trends and other emerging characteristics using iterative methods. This included repeat close reading, machine coding to

128 | P a g e categorise data, interpreting these categories, moving from open to more selective coding and

‘memoing’, recording thoughts and conceptualising ways of integrating findings.

Early analysis contributed to a snapshot study of online political discussion undertaken by the researcher in the weeks running up to the EU Referendum, the result of which (that hinted strongly at the surprising outcome of the vote) have not been included in this thesis, but were presented as a conference paper.¹⁵ It has also generated insights in addition to ongoing group observations which are included in generalised and anonymised form.

Interviews, focus groups and webinars

Each transcript was checked word by word against the audio by the researcher and any errors corrected, for example, misinterpretations of the various subtypes of British English collected.

First stage analysis focused on relistening to recorded interviews and close reading of transcriptions supported by coding manually and using Nvivo.

Tabulation of results

Data were first sorted and tabulated under the main domains. Given the discursive nature of discussion, not all relevant data was given in direct response to the questions asked (for example, a respondent might give information about media consumption as part of their response to a question about general participation), these were recategorised to support analysis by search-term except where they sat most rationally in their original context.

15 Britain in Europe Conference 2016 https://www.beds.ac.uk/bie/programme

129 | P a g e A domain and theme map was then developed that is included in the results chapter which mapped specific topic areas, supported application of the theoretical frameworks and thus helped to

generate insights.

Use of supporting software

Nvivo software has been used throughout the research development process to:

- provide fast, neutral coding using auto-coding or queries - identify themes using queries

- query data

- develop theme maps

Further observations on data collection and analysis

Reflexivity questions further down ask how the data collection and analysis methods ‘construct’ the outcome. There are several likely effects in this respect. The limits of the representativeness of the sample have been acknowledged. The nature of the topic discussion guide, while aiming to be open, nonetheless will have a framing effect on the way questions are answered, for example in terms of major events, or affective factors. It was anticipated generally that respondents would attempt to portray themselves in a reasonably positive light and in group interview situations especially, modify their behaviour. While gathered according to a format, data gathered from individuals was

anecdotal and narrative and potentially contains inaccurate recollections.