Combining Analyses at Different Levels of Discourse

Abstract

This chapter addresses an integral issue in research design: conceptualizing the structuredness of discourse and operationalizing the analysis at a particular level of discourse or across multiple levels. This has clear implications for methodological choices and triangulation: If discourse is structured—e.g. into levels, layers, a center, and periphery—then analyzing data from different loci offers potential benefits of triangulation. This chapter discusses prevalent conceptions of the structuredness of discourse and contrasts different approaches to connecting the micro- and macro-level(s) of discourse in relation to agency, context, and social action. Arguably the most influential conceptions of discourse structure view discourse as structured by social hierarchies or as situated in social fields of action; less influential are notions of a discursive core/periphery, sedimentation, strands, and knots.