Contestable contexts: the transparent anchoring of contextualization in text-as-data

Abstract

The article is about the criteria used to decide the relevance of particular contexts to the framework for qualitative text analysis. By conceptualizing context as something that needs to be justified, rather than identified, we argue in favour of transparency when it comes to the link between text-as-data and interpretations of text-as-data. By drawing on examples from a speech made to the European Parliament, we examine a number of practical tools for anchoring context to text, these spanning from the literal, through cues, to absence. By means of the ideal of transparency we hope to move the focus of the critique of analysis from correct/incorrect methodology to credible/untenable interpretations.