Example Research: Critical Discourse Analysis
adapted from: the University of Sheffield website
In this section of the website, we will look in depth at one particular aspect of
discourse analysis: the field of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA).
What is CDA?
Critical Discourse Analysis is a form of discourse analysis that studies
the relationship between discourse and ideology (a set of beliefs,
attitudes and behaviours that constitute a perspective on the world).[1] It
focuses on critiquing social injustice, and has strong links to the study
of language and power.[1] Most critical discourse analysts approach a
text with a political goal or agenda of some kind, and are often
advocates for social justice and social change, seeking to show how a
text could be biased towards a particular ideology.[1]
What is Critical Discourse Analysis?
A critical research perspective
Critical Discourse Analysis can be used to analyse texts covering a wide
range of topics, for example: racism, sexism, homophobia, politics,
immigration, crime and many more. The reasons why critical discourse
analysts study these topics is usually political motivated. Almost any
text (although, usually articles) written about these topics can be
analysed using CDA, as journalists constructing these texts have to
make a number of decisions in how an ideology will be represented. For
example, choices of who to take quotes from, terms used to name
someone, what perspective the text is written from, what statistics are
used, etc. can all have an impact on the ideology that the text portrays
overall.[2]
