Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
Lecture Notes
Chapter 12: Qualitative Understanding of Content: Rhetorical, and Critical
Analyses, and More
Learning Objectives
12-1 Describe the advantages and disadvantages of qualitative analyses of content.
12-2 Explain the main types of rhetorical analysis.
Chapter Summary
This chapter begins by describing the advantages and disadvantages of qualitative analyses of
Annotated Chapter Outline
I. Introduction: Advantages and Disadvantages of Qualitative Analyses of Content
A. Advantages
1. The multiplicity of approaches to understanding text and image.
B. Disadvantages
1. Lack quantitative precision.
II. Rhetorical Analyses
A. Aristotelian analysis
1. Rhetoric as the discovery of the available means of persuasion in any given
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
3. Pathos addresses the use of emotion.
B. Dramatistic analysis
1. Dramatistic approach: communication as performance, as actors acting out a
drama against a background or scenario.
2. Dramatistic pentad.
a. Act—what act is taking place?
3. Ratio analysis—examining the relative significance of each pentad unit in any
given situation.
C. Fantasy theme analysis
1. Fantasy theme analysis is a method of rhetorical analysis that provides an
understanding of group consciousness and the development of shared values.
III. Narrative Analysis
A. Narratives
1. Narrative analysis of the formal properties of stories that people tell and the
social role that stories play.
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
B. Analysis
1. Pays attention to how stories play out over time or sequenced.
IV. Metaphor Analysis
A. Group vocabulary
1. Vocabulary of any group includes the analogies and metaphors
B. Metaphor analysis
1. Metaphor analysis includes a search for the basic or root metaphors that shape
V. Discourse Analysis
A. Discourse
1. Discourse as the interest in the constructive, productive, or pragmatic uses of
language.
B. Field of research
1. Not a specific method.
VI. Conversation Analysis
A. Transcripts
1. Raw material of conversation analysis is transcripts of conversations.
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
B. Utterances
1. Utterances are units of speech preceded by silence and followed either by silence
C. Adjacency pairs
1. Adjacency pairs are units of speech that occur together.
D. Turn taking
1. Agreed-upon management system for turn taking.
E. Repair mechanisms
1. Repair mechanism occurs when a conversation is running into trouble.
2. Four types.
VII. Semiotics
A. Relationship between language and meaning
1. Signs and language are arbitrarily connected to meaning and are culturally
specific.
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
B. Semiotic thinking: the tobacco king and sleeping policemen
1. Semioticians study meaning.
C. Roman Jakobson visits Sam’s car lot
1. Six semiotic functions identify how language functions for specific purposes.
2. Expressive: describes or establishes the speaker’s condition or emotional state.
VIII. Critical Analyses
A. Power structures
1. Critical analyses explore the way in which communication establishes,
reinforces, and maintains power structures in society.
B. Rhetorical
1. Establish how communication is used to maintain power relationships.
C. Critical discourse analysis
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
1. Critical discourse analysis aims to explore the relationships between language
and power.
D. Marxist criticism
1. Marxist perspective begins from a critique of capitalism and its attendant social
relationships and values.
2. Examine communication content for the (often hidden) messages that reinforce
the ideology.
E. Feminist criticism
1. Feminist criticism focuses on gender, and more specifically, gender inequities
and their portrayal lived experiences and replication.