Critical discourse studies for research on media and information literacy projects: An illustrated discussion of seven methodological considerations

This chapter familiarizes the reader with a series of considerations to be taken into account in critical discourse studies (CDS) of media and information literacy (MIL) projects. CDS is a transdisciplinary field of inquiry that consists of perspectives, theories and methods well suited for exploring the way contexts, identities and multimodal forms of discourse relate to each other. CDS allow for an analysis of the political and ideological dimensions of MIL-related discursive practices. This chapter focuses on seven methodological considerations and associated research choices. The choices made need to be consistent with each other and may need to be revisited in a cyclic process. The first two considerations relate to the construction of a CDS-informed problematic: (1) choosing an appropriate CDS perspective; and (2) identifying the discourses that seek to define the reality under investigation. Other considerations touch upon issues of data collection: (3) defining criteria for the selection of cases; and (4) delimiting the discourse that one seeks to analyze. A third set of considerations is related to data analysis: (5) the choice of relevant units of analysis; (6) the preliminary analysis via inductive coding; and (7) the analysis of the political and ideological dimensions of discourse. The implications of these considerations are exemplified with reference to a CDS-informed case study of the MIL project of the European Association for Viewers Interests (EAVI). The conclusion addresses the political implications of the research choices made