ABSTRACT
With research methods such as experiments and surveys people respond to controlled situations or answer questions and thus provide data not formerly available. Some researchers prefer to study messages that already exist in recorded or visual form. Textual analysis is the method used to describe and interpret the characteristics of a recorded or visual message. ‘ Texts ’ are any object, artifact or behavior that involves symbol use. Texts can be written transcripts of speeches or conversations, written documents (letters, personnel records, newspapers, magazines, textbooks), electronic documents (audiotapes, fi lms, videotapes, computer fi les), or visual texts (paintings, photographs and architecture).
