ABSTRACT
Researchers throughout the disciplines analyze written documents for features of interest to them and to their particular groups, and, in doing so, gain insights into human thought and social activity. Text analysis is especially important in the field of composition studies, which has its central research focus on the production of written texts, particularly as performed by academic writers. This chapter is about texts and about methodology, and it is also about theory. In some ways the adjective theory-laden in its title is redundant, since methodology is, by its very nature, infused with theory. Nevertheless, this term provides a needed emphasis because some uses of methodology refer only to method or technique, and methodology is much more than method or technique. It is description, explanation, and justification of method. The term theory-laden, which has been employed by many, can be attributed to Hanson (1958), who spoke of perception as “a theory-laden undertaking.”
