Critical Discourse Analysis: Methods and Approaches
2026-05-14 11:00 - 12:00 (Europe/London)
The study of language is a key component of social science research. Studies range from critical analyses of media discourse to historical approaches that uncover how language changes over time, from micro-level analyses of pronunciation to macro-level examinations of the consequences of governmental policy. Language can tell us a great deal about society, and society can tell us a great deal about language. Research in linguistics, sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology and the sociology of language is methodologically and epistemologically rich. This session will introduce you to an approach that is both widespread and extremely useful beyond linguistics: critical discourse analysis (CDA). We will cover central aspects of CDA and explain how this method can be used on a variety of data.
This session is part of the SWDTP Data Analysis Webinar Series. Visit the following link for further information and registration: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/swdtp/1956811

Using co-produced data in the doctorate
2026-05-19 13:00 - 14:00
Beginning from the Inside Out: The Value of Pilot Studies in Decolonial Research
Kate Matzopoulos, PhD researcher in Education at the University of Bath
This presentation explores the value of conducting a pilot study prior to larger-scale research, particularly when working with Indigenous and decolonial methodologies that are still in experimental phases and not widely documented in education research. My context, with the Ju/’hoansi San community in Namibia, is not widely written about outside of anthropology, which meant that I had to draw from other Indigenous scholarship to piece together meaningful approaches.
My pilot study, carried out during my master’s research, was foundational in forming authentic relationships with the community. Relationality became the hinge on which the work rests: research emerges in and through relationships, shifting with daily life rather than fitting into neat methodological boundaries. The pilot also revealed how to engage respectfully across difference and avoid reproducing colonial knowledge systems that obscure reality.
Ultimately, the study affirmed the importance of beginning research from the “inside out,” allowing Indigenous people to act as co-researchers working from their own onto-epistemologies, rather than being framed by external categories or outsider lenses. This informs my ongoing fieldwork in my PhD studies.

Conducting a pilot to trial photo diary instructions and assess the data generated
Louise Toller, SWDTP alumni in Sociology at the University of Exeter
My PhD research investigated the experiences of chronically ill young adults using a combination of verbal and visual methods, specifically participant-generated photographs and photo elicitation interviews. In this presentation, I describe how I used a pilot study to develop my visual method, essential due to both my lack of prior experience and the lack of detailed information in published studies. I conducted a pilot with two main objectives: to trial the draft photo diary instructions I would give to participants, and to assess the sort of data the photographs generated. I reflect on what I learned from the pilot, and the modifications I then made to the photo-based phases of the main study, highlighting lessons that I would not have gained without carrying out a pilot.
This session is part of the SWDTP Data Analysis Webinar Series. Visit the following link for further information and registration: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/swdtp/1956811
