Textual analysis is a reliable, data-driven way to gain insights into politics in the real world. It’s used in political science and public policy to reveal public opinion, explore underlying language-based trends in election cycles, and even compare the rhetoric in different political figures’ speeches. But just what is textual analysis, what are the approaches, and what are its wider applications? In this article, we’ll explore the history of textual analysis, the popular approaches political science researchers use for their projects, example applications, and its various advantages and cautions to consider.

What is Textual Analysis?
Textual analysis is an approach to examining language-based content in order to analyze a range of issues, from public opinion to political trends. It’s basically the process of breaking down text documents or transcripts to find similarities, differences, consistencies and patterns in the data. Textual analysis can be both qualitative and quantitative, depending on the techniques used and the data collected.

History of Textual Analysis
The use of textual analysis in political science has roots in ancient history. Greek orators and scholars used it to identify rhetoric and persuasive strategies in political discourse. Then, during the medieval and Renaissance period, textual analysis was used to study works of literature and philosophical and theological works. The development of text-mining technology and data analysis in the 20th and 21st century allowed quantitative textual analysis to take a larger role in political science research, offering insights into political behavior and discourse. Modern uses of textual analysis in political science mostly focus on quantitative analysis and natural language processing.

Approaches to Textual Analysis in Political Science
There are a variety of approaches researchers use to conduct textual analysis in political science. These approaches can be broken down into three distinct types:

  1. Qualitative Textual Analysis
    This approach is more traditional and subjective than quantitative textual analysis, as it requires more subjective interpretation and analysis of the text. It focuses on analyzing historical documents, conversations, and interviews to get a better understanding of a particular political situation. Qualitative textual analysis can help researchers identify the underlying motivations and thought processes behind these documents.

  2. Quantitative Textual Analysis
    This approach involves using specialized software to quantify and analyze larger text documents. This method is more automated and objective than qualitative textual analysis, and it allows researchers to take a more systematic and data-driven approach to understanding political discourse. Quantitative textual analysis uses metrics such as term frequency and document frequency to analyze documents and identify correlations and trends.

  3. Natural Language Processing
    Natural language processing (NLP) is a subfield of artificial intelligence that focuses on understanding the language content in a text document or conversation. NLP uses specialized algorithms to extract the meaning and sentiment from the text, making it a powerful tool for textual analysis in political science. NLP is particularly useful for analyzing large volumes of text quickly and efficiently.

Applications of Textual Analysis in Political Science
Textual analysis is used to answer a wide range of questions in political science. Here are a few examples:

  1. Analyzing Election Speeches
    Textual analysis can be used to analyze speeches given by political candidates in an election and reveal the underlying patterns and similarities in their rhetoric. This allows researchers to assess how candidates are trying to rally or reach out to different blocs of voters and how successful their campaigns are.

  2. Examining Public Opinion
    Textual analysis can also be used to examine public discourse and gauge public opinion trends. By analyzing the content of news articles, comments on social media and other sources of information, researchers can gain insights into the public’s opinion on a wide range of political topics.

  3. Comparing Political Rhetoric
    Textual analysis can also be used to compare and contrast the political rhetoric of different politicians to measure their similarities and differences. This helps researchers identify which political figures tend to lean right or left on certain issues and understand which politicians have more influence over public opinion.

Advantages of Textual Analysis
Textual analysis is a valuable tool for political science research. Here are some of the advantages it offers:

  1. Objective and Neutral
    Textual analysis is a data-driven approach that is relatively free from bias. This means the results of a textual analysis study can offer a more impartial and fuller picture of a particular political situation.

  2. Insight Into Public Opinion
    Textual analysis can help political scientists gain valuable insights into the public’s opinion on certain matters. This can help politicians to craft their policies accordingly and gauge the public’s reaction to them before implementing them.

  3. Comparative Analysis
    Textual analysis can help reveal the similarities and differences between how different political figures present their policies and ideas. This can be very useful in understanding which strategies are more successful in swaying public opinion.

Cautions to Consider
Despite its advantages, there are also some cautions to consider when using textual analysis in political science research. Here are a few of them:

  1. Automation and Technical Challenges
    Using automated tools for textual analysis can pose some technical challenges, such as web scraping or using APIs to access the data. Researchers need to be aware of external factors that may interfere with the accuracy of their results.

  2. Missed Context
    Due to the automated nature of text analysis, some of the underlying context of the content may be missed. This can lead to inaccurate results, and researchers must be cognizant of this.

  3. Social Media Bias
    Because textual analysis often relies on data from social media, there is the potential for bias in the data. Social media platforms tend to be more active with certain groups or political ideologies, which can lead to skewed results.

Textual analysis is a powerful tool in political science research that can offer valuable insights into various aspects of politics, from public opinion to election campaigns. It has been used for centuries and its applications are growing every day. Even with its cautions, researchers can use textual analysis to analyze data with more accuracy and objectivity than ever before.