Textual Analysis

Textual analysis is a method to describe and interpret a text in its context. Here ‘text’ refers to the written as well as sound and visual messages. A text is something that we make meaning from. It can be in any form – from a written text to a song or television program. The purpose of textual analysis is to describe the content, structure, and functions of the messages contained in texts.  It has been used to analyse content, bias, meanings, and perspectives in text. It is the analysis of the text with reference to the meanings, contexts, and intentions contained in messages. Textual analysis is useful for researchers working in cultural studies, media studies, mass communication, and perhaps even in sociology and philosophy. However, the method achieved greater popularity among social science scholars as well as a method of communication research.

Textual analysis is a way for researchers to gather information about how other human beings make sense of the world. Through the textual analysis, it is aimed to make an educated guess from the interpretation of the text. Before approaching a text for content analysis, the researcher has to consider the following features of a text:

• There is nothing inherent in a text. The meanings of a text are always brought to it by someone.
• Texts do not have single meanings. A text can be read from multiple perspectives and thus meaning will also change.
• Texts have meanings relative to particular contexts or purposes. Thus contextual meaning has to be found.

There are several methods of analysing the text. The popular text analysing and interpreting methods are:

• Structural method forwarded by the linguists
• Semiotic approach
• Content Analysis
• Discourse Analysis formulated by Michael Foucault

Textual analysis is a way of gathering and analysing information in academic research. It involves understanding language, symbols, and/or pictures present in texts to gain information regarding how people make sense of and communicate life and life experiences. Visual, written, or spoken messages provide clues to ways through which communication may be understood. Often the messages are understood as influenced by and reflective of larger social structures. For example, messages reflect and/or may challenge historical, cultural, political, and ethical contexts for which they exist. Textual analysis theorists claim meaning resides in the dialectical process between the text and the reader, which takes place in a particular social and historical context. Therefore, the analyst must understand the broader social structures that influence the messages present in the text under investigation.

Thus, in textual analysis and its presentation, the following elements should be considered.

• A summary of the text: Before presenting the analysis, it is necessary to present a summary of the text for the readers. 
• Attention to the context: All texts are part of ongoing conversations, controversies, or debates, so to understand the text, the researcher needs to understand the larger context.
• A clear interpretation or judgment: The goal of textual analysis is to interpret the text through careful examination of its various possibilities.
• Justify the conclusions with reasonable support: The researcher needs to support his/her analysis with evidence from the text itself and sometimes from other sources.