Qualitative Approaches
For close reading, interpretive work, and methods where human judgment about meaning drives the analysis. The four pages below cover methods that are commonly used across the BA and MA programs I supervise — each answers a different kind of question about texts, cases, or political communication. They are often combined with each other, and frequently paired with a computational method for sampling or validation. See the Computational & Quantitative Approaches page for that side of the split.
Each page below follows the same structure: what the method is, when to use it, how to apply it step by step, how to structure the relevant thesis chapters, and what to read.
Common qualitative methods
Comparative Case Study
Cross-case analysis using MSSD, MDSD, and structured comparison
Process Tracing
Within-case analysis of causal mechanisms step by step
Framing Analysis
How issues are presented in media, policy, and political communication
Discourse Analysis
How language constructs meaning, identity, and power relations
Combining qualitative and computational approaches
Many of the strongest theses combine a qualitative method with a computational one. A few common pairings:
- Framing analysis + topic analysis: use a topic model to surface candidate frames in a large corpus, then read closely within each cluster.
- Discourse analysis + keyword-in-context tooling: let the computational side locate passages worth reading; keep the interpretive judgment human.
- Comparative case study + descriptive corpus statistics: report aggregate measures (volume, sentiment, keyword prevalence) alongside your cross-case interpretation.
- Process tracing + digital archives: use computational search to identify the causal-process observations you would otherwise miss.
The two sides are complementary, not competing. See the Computational & Quantitative Approaches page for the methods on the other side of the split.
Overview and other methods
Not sure which path is right for you? Go back to the Methods overview for the broader orientation, or consult the “Other Methods to Explore” table there for less commonly used approaches (qualitative interviewing, thematic analysis, archival research).