Understanding and Quantifying: A Mixed-Method Study on the Journalistic Coverage of Canadian Disasters

Abstract

This article presents a mixed methodology approach that was developed to analyze news coverage of four Canadian disasters. Here, we present the technical aspects of a mixed methods group research project that enabled analysis of more than 3,014 journalistic articles. We explain how alternating between inductive and deductive epistemological stances led to the quantification of characteristics of journalistic treatment not originating from a prior theoretical framework, but rather rooted in the data under study. Although our approach does not escape the difficulties and challenges posed by mixed methods and group research, in this article we present a way out of the usual methodological segmentation in journalistic discourse analysis by simultaneously exploiting the strengths of two approaches often perceived to be opposing.