Lesson 2: Text, Context, and Subtext

Lesson 2.1 Content and Contextual

Analysis

Lesson Outcomes:
 Analyze the context, content, and perspective of different kinds of primary
sources;
 Determine the contribution of different kinds of primary sources in
understanding Philippine history;
 Develop critical and analytical skills with exposure to primary sources

Introduction
“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own
understanding of their history.” – George Orwell

Content, Contextual, and Subtext Analyses are method of data analysis in

historical research.

Let’s Analyze

Expound the statement below in three (3) sentences.

“Study the past if you would define the future.” – Confucius

Abstraction

Content/Textual Analysis

 Is a research method for studying documents and communication artifacts, which

can be texts of various formats, pictures, audio or video.
  Social scientists use it to quantify patterns in communication, in a replicable a
systematic manner. One of the key advantages of this research method is to
analyze social phenomena in a non-invasive way, in contrast to simulating social
experiences or collecting survey answers.
 Practices and philosophies of content analysis vary between scholarly
communities. They all involve systematic reading or observation of texts or
artifacts which are assigned labels or codes to indicate the presence of
interesting, meaningful patterns. After labelling a set of media, a researcher is
able to statistically estimate the proportions of patterns in the texts, as well as
correlations between patterns.
 Computers are increasingly used in content analysis, to automate the labelling (or
coding) of documents. Simple computational techniques can provide descriptive
data such as word frequencies and document lengths.

1. Goals of Content Analysis

According to Klaus Krippendorff, six questions must be addressed in every

content analysis:
1. Which data are analyzed?
2. How are data defined?
3. From what population are data drawn?
4. What is the relevant context?
5. What are the boundaries of the analysis?
6. What is to be measured?

The simplest and most objective form of content analysis considers unambiguous
characteristics of the text such as word frequencies, the page is taken by a newspaper
column, or the duration of a radio or television program. Analysis of simple word
frequencies is limited because the meaning of a word depends on surrounding text.

2. Kinds of Texts

There are five types in content analysis:

1. written text, such as books papers
2. oral text, such as speech and theatrical performance
3. iconic text, such as drawings, paintings, and icons
4. audio-visual text, such as TV programs, movies, and videos
5. hypertexts, which are texts found on the internet

3. Types of Content Analysis

Two (2) general categories of content analysis:

Conceptual analysis –can be thought of as establishing the
existence and frequency of concepts in a text
Relational analysis –build on conceptual analysis by examining
the relationships among concepts in a text

Conceptual Analysis
- In conceptual analysis, a concept is chosen for examination and the
number of its occurrences within the text recorded. Because terms may
be implicit as well as explicit, it is important to clearly define implicit terms
before the beginning of the counting process. To limit the subjectivity in
the definitions of concepts, specialized dictionaries are used.
 - As with most other research methods, conceptual analysis begins with
identifying research questions and choosing a sample or samples. Once
chosen, the text must be coded into manageable content categories. The
process of coding is basically one of selective reduction, which is the
central idea in content analysis. By breaking down the contents of
materials into meaningful and pertinent units of information, certain
characteristics of the message may be analyzed and interpreted.
- An example of conceptual analysis would be to examine a text and to
code it for the existence of certain words. In looking at this text, the
research question might involve examining the number of positive words
used to describe an argument, as opposed to the researcher would be
interested only in quantifying these words, not in examining how they are
related, which is a function of relational analysis. In conceptual analysis,
the researcher simply wants to examine presence with respect to his/her
research question, i.e., whether there is a stronger presence of positive or
negative words used with respect to a specific argument or respective
arguments.

Relational Analysis
- Relational analysis builds on conceptual analysis by examining the
relationships among concepts in a text. And as with other sorts of inquiry,
initial choices with regard to what is being studied and/or coded for often
determine the possibilities of that particular study. For relational analysis,
it is important to first decide which concept type (s0 will be explored in the
analysis. Studies have been conducted with as few as one and as many
as 500 concept categories. Obviously, too many categories may obscure
your results and too few can lead to unreliable and potentially invalid
conclusions. Therefore, it is important to allow the context and necessities
of your research to guide your coding procedures.
- There are many techniques of relational analysis available and this
flexibility makes it for its popularity. Researchers can devise their own
procedures according to the nature of their project. Once a procedure is
rigorously tested, it can be applied and compared across populations over
time. The process of relational analysis has achieved a high degree of
computer automation but still is, like most forms of research, time
consuming. Perhaps the strongest claim that can be made is that
maintains a high degree of statistical rigor without losing the richness of
details apparent in even more qualitative methods.

Contextual Analysis

- Is an analysis of a text (in whatever medium, including multi-media) that

helps us to assess that text within the context of its historical and cultural
setting, and also in terms of its textuality – or the qualities that
characterize the text as a text.
- A contextual analysis combines features if formal analysis with features of
“cultural archaeology,” or the systematic study of social, political,
economic, philosophical, religious, and aesthetic conditions that were (or
can be assumed to have been) in place at the time and place when the
text was created.
- While this may sound complicated, it is in reality deceptively simple: it
means “situating: the text within the milieu of its times and assessing the
roles of author, readers (intended and actual), and “commentators” (critics
 both professional and otherwise the reception of the text). (Behrendt,
2008)
A. How to Use Contextual Analysis

A contextual analysis can proceed along many lines, depending upon how
complex one wishes to make the analysis. But it generally includes several key
questions:

1. What does the text reveal about itself as a text?

 Describe (or characterize) the language (the words, or vocabulary) and the
rhetoric (how the words are arranged in order to achieve some purpose).
These are the primary components of style.
2. What does the text tell us about its apparent intended audience(s)?
 What sort of reader does the author seem to have envisioned, as
demonstrated by the text’s language and rhetoric?
 What sort of qualifications does the text appear to require of its intended
reader(s)? How can we tell?
 What sort of readers appear to be excluded from the text’s intended
audiences? How can we tell?
 Is there, perhaps, more than one intended audience?
3. What seems to have been the author’s intention?
 Why did the author write this text? And why did the author write this text
in this particular way, as opposed to other ways in which the text might
have been written?
 Remember that any text is the result of deliberate decisions by the
author. The author has chosen to write (or paint, or whatever) with these
particular words and has therefore chosen not to use other words that
she or he might have used. So, we need to consider:
 what the author said (the words that have been selected);
 what the author did not say (the words that were not selected; and
 how the author said it 9as opposed to other ways it might or could have
been said).
4. What is the occasion for this text? That is, is it written in response to:
 some particular, specific contemporary incident or event?
 some more “general” observation by the author about human affairs
and/or experiences?
 some definable set of cultural circumstances?
5. Is the text intended as some sort of call to – or for –action?
 If so, by whom? And why?
 And also, if so, what action(s) does the author want the reader(s) to
take?
6. Is the text intended rather as some sort of call to –or for- reflection or
consideration rather than direct action?
 If so, what does the author seem to wish the reader to think about and
how to conclude or decide?
 Why does the author wish the readers to do this?
 What is to be gained, and by whom?
7. Can we identify any non-textual circumstances that affected the creation and
reception of the text?
 Such circumstances include historical or political events, economic
factors, cultural practices, and intellectual or aesthetic issues, as well as
the particular circumstances of the author’s own life. (Behrendt, 2008)
 Subtext

The subject of a document or object refers to its secondary and implied meanings.
The subtext embraces the emotional or intellectual messages embedded in, or implied by
the document or object.

SUMMARY

Text

 What is visible/readable, i.e., what information is provided by the source?

Context
 What was going on during the time period? What background information do you
have that helps explain the information found in the source?

Subtext
 What is between the lines? Ask questions about the following:
 Author: Who created the source, and what do we know about that person?
 Audience: For whom was the source created?
 Reason: Why was this source produced when it was?

Reference: Galicia, Reynaldo and Palencia, Marjueve, Readings

in Philippine History, 2019, Golden Books Inc