In the forthcoming analysis I refer to Fran Tonkiss (2004). Tonkiss acknowledges the complexity in formalizing a standard approach to discourse analysis, which is in part due to the various frameworks that different researchers have adopted. However, she says while there are no strict rules of method for analysing discourse, it is possible to isolate core themes and useful techniques which may be adapted to different research contexts (ibid.: 376). The three key stages that she proposes include the following: selecting and approaching data; sorting, coding and analysing data; and developing and presenting an argument based on the analysis. Within the sorting, coding and analysing data stage she introduces some constructive pointers for analysis: identifying key themes and arguments; looking for variation in the text; and paying attention to silences. These pointers will be followed when analysing the data in the next chapter. The first technique involves identifying themes that are recurrent or significant in order to organize the data to bring a more systematic order to the analytic process (ibid.: 378). The analytic process involves comparing and contrasting how these themes emerge in different ways within the data, and this can reveal most clearly what the speaker is trying to put across in the text through, for instance, semantic features such as emphasis and repetition. The second technique involves exposing any internal uncertainties or inconsistencies, and the way some discourses might dismiss alternative accounts. This will show how contradictions and alternative accounts are handled. Finally, the absence of certain key themes from a given text is just as significant as the presence of key themes. Paying attention to silences or gaps allows us to make conjectures about alternative accounts which are excluded by omission, as well as those which are countered by rhetoric (ibid.: 379).
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