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Structural reading : Developing the method of Structural Collocation Analysis using a case study on parliamentary reporting

Johansson, Mathias LU orcid and van Waarden, Betto LU (2024) In Historical Methods 57(3). p.185-198
Abstract

To analyze large, digitized corpora, we introduce the new approach of “structural reading”, which combines the abstraction of distant reading with the nuance of close reading. We do so by developing the method of “structural collocation analysis” (SCA) that uses metadata categories to investigate how research topics behave across texts belonging to different categories. The method combines the robustness of traditional collocation analysis with the structural dimension of structural topic modeling, bridging corpus linguistics and text mining. SCA enables us to gain novel insights from existing corpora to shed new light on long-standing historical debates. We exemplify this method through a case study on the history of parliamentary... (More)

To analyze large, digitized corpora, we introduce the new approach of “structural reading”, which combines the abstraction of distant reading with the nuance of close reading. We do so by developing the method of “structural collocation analysis” (SCA) that uses metadata categories to investigate how research topics behave across texts belonging to different categories. The method combines the robustness of traditional collocation analysis with the structural dimension of structural topic modeling, bridging corpus linguistics and text mining. SCA enables us to gain novel insights from existing corpora to shed new light on long-standing historical debates. We exemplify this method through a case study on the history of parliamentary reporting, using digitized British parliamentary proceedings. We discovered that discussions on parliamentary reporting were not dominated by a particular political party, but rather by senior MPs and MPs from urban areas–two categories we call “political insiders”. Metadata-based distinctions between different types of politicians thus enabled us to provide new perspectives on the history of parliamentary reporting.

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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Hansard, parliamentary history, parliamentary reporting, Structural Collocation Analysis, Structural reading
in
Historical Methods
volume
57
issue
3
pages
185 - 198
publisher
Taylor & Francis
external identifiers
  • scopus:85206942938
ISSN
0161-5440
DOI
10.1080/01615440.2024.2414259
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
id
96998667-d221-4cdd-b1c9-c916f55b479e
date added to LUP
2024-10-27 06:54:18
date last changed
2025-04-04 15:01:15
@article{96998667-d221-4cdd-b1c9-c916f55b479e,
  abstract     = {{<p>To analyze large, digitized corpora, we introduce the new approach of “structural reading”, which combines the abstraction of distant reading with the nuance of close reading. We do so by developing the method of “structural collocation analysis” (SCA) that uses metadata categories to investigate how research topics behave across texts belonging to different categories. The method combines the robustness of traditional collocation analysis with the structural dimension of structural topic modeling, bridging corpus linguistics and text mining. SCA enables us to gain novel insights from existing corpora to shed new light on long-standing historical debates. We exemplify this method through a case study on the history of parliamentary reporting, using digitized British parliamentary proceedings. We discovered that discussions on parliamentary reporting were not dominated by a particular political party, but rather by senior MPs and MPs from urban areas–two categories we call “political insiders”. Metadata-based distinctions between different types of politicians thus enabled us to provide new perspectives on the history of parliamentary reporting.</p>}},
  author       = {{Johansson, Mathias and van Waarden, Betto}},
  issn         = {{0161-5440}},
  keywords     = {{Hansard; parliamentary history; parliamentary reporting; Structural Collocation Analysis; Structural reading}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{185--198}},
  publisher    = {{Taylor & Francis}},
  series       = {{Historical Methods}},
  title        = {{Structural reading : Developing the method of Structural Collocation Analysis using a case study on parliamentary reporting}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01615440.2024.2414259}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/01615440.2024.2414259}},
  volume       = {{57}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}