State of Methods More Than Mere Words: Applying Linguistic Analysis Methods to Qualitative Projects

Researchers employ numerous methods to explore phenomena, but few studies feature linguistic prompts as a primary data collection strategy. This paper will describe the use of linguistic analysis to uncover organizational culture, grounded in Schein’s (2010a, 2020) levels of culture and Whitcomb and Deshler’s (1983) linguistic analysis framework. The notion that individuals experience culture at a profound and subconscious level and express their response to that culture through their use of language has practical applications in many qualitative approaches. Linguistic perspectives reveal how participants perceive the organizational ethos and observable forms; how they view themselves and other culture-bearers; how they perceive cultural norms, beliefs, and assumptions; how they assimilate newcomers; how they place themselves within their organizational culture, distinguishing individual self-consciousness versus group self-consciousness; and how they describe the workings of their organization. The very nature of the problem, i.e., asking individuals to describe culture through essence statements, storytelling, free word association, metaphors, similes, and cultural references, elicits rich, personal insights about an organization. Whitcomb and Deshler’s (1983) three levels of thematic, emotional-barometer, and cultural values clusters enable researchers to uncover cultural patterns in the language participants choose, probing cultural conditions where the importance of context, setting, organizational fit, and the culture bearer’s frame of reference are pivotal (Schein, 2010a). Although this study specifically pertains to the study of organizational culture, this method can be effectively applied in all disciplines.