The applicability of discourse analysis in idiographic psychological research

Possibilities and obstacles

Abstract

Discourse analysis is a methodology that emphasizes psychological phenomena constructed in interaction. In the mid-1980s, Psychology began to emphasize this method because of the restructuring of the object of study of Psychology, considering that in the discourse, there is a "social action" that is evoked in the act of speaking and being with the other. However, this methodology that values language as a cognitive phenomenon from which thoughts and actions emerge presents some limitations that were the object of reflection in this article. The methodology was tested in a corpus analysis on "Multiple Religious Belongings" in which young college students could express their opinions about the possibility of reconciling two or more religions. Discourse Analysis proved to be a strategic alternative to connect the participant's context to their speech, allowing a deeper analysis of the meanings of the speech. However, it was evidenced that the lack of description of the steps that should be followed for analysis weakens the possibility of replication and inferences about the object of study.