Citation

Donohue WA, Hao Q, Spreng R, Owen C. Am. Behav. Sci. 2020; 64(1): 97-117.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0002764219859626

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to illustrate innovations in text analysis associated with understanding conflict-related communication events. Two innovations will be explored: LIWC (Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count), the text modeling program from the open-source data analysis software program R, and SPSS Modeler. The LIWC analysis revisits the 2009 study by Donohue and Druckman and the 2014 study by Donohue, Liang, and Druckman focusing on text analyses of the Oslo I Accords between the Palestinians and Israelis to illustrate this approach. The R and SPSS modeling of text analysis use the same data set as the LIWC analysis to provide a different set of pictures associated with each leader's rhetoric during the period in which the Oslo I accords were being negotiated. Each innovation provides different insights into the mind-set of the two groups of leaders as the secret talks were emerging. The implications of each approach in establishing an understanding of the communication exchanges are discussed to conclude the article.

Language: en

Keywords

conflict-related communication; LIWC; message framing; Oslo I Accords; SPSS Modeler; text analysis