QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

SEMIOTICS

Chapter 15

Sage Publications Limited

2008 Michael D. Myers

All Rights Reserved

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

Introduction

There are many

different ways to
analyse qualitative
data

Semiotics is one
approach to analysing
and interpreting
qualitative data

Semiotics

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

Semiotics

Semiotics is primarily concerned

with the analysis of signs and
symbols and their meaning

Signs and symbols can be

studied, not only in language
(both written and spoken forms),
but also in rituals, culture, images
and art in fact, anything that
can be read as text

Semiotic researchers do not study

signs in isolation, rather they
study the conventions governing
the use of signs and sign systems

Semiotics

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

Signs

The meaning of signs is arbitrary. In principle, anything

could stand for anything else. It is the cultural context
that frames the interpretation of signs and imbues signs
with localized meanings (Hackley, 2003: 162)

A sign can mean one thing in one particular cultural

context, but mean something quite different in another

Signs can also change their meaning over time

Semiotics has been used especially in information

systems, management, marketing and organizational
studies

Marketing researchers have used semiotics in research

on advertising, brand image and marketing
communications (Hackley, 2003)

Semiotics

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

Semiotics defined

Semiotics is concerned with everything that can

be taken as a sign (Eco, 1976: 7)

Words, images, actions and objects can all be

studied as signs, as long as they have been
recorded in some way and can be studied (e.g. in
writing or on video)

Nth (1990) refers to semiotics as the science of

meaning

Semiotics

Semiotics concepts

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

1. Signifier and signified

2. Sign, object and interpretant
3. Icon, index and symbol
4. Encoding and decoding
5. Pragmatic, semantic and syntactic
6. Syntagmatic analysis
7. Paradigmatic analysis
8. Polysemy

Semiotics

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

Signifier and signified

Saussure distinguished between two things:

The signifier is a sign or symbol that can stand

for something else. By definition, all words are
signifiers since they always stand for something
else (e.g. a thought, a feeling, or a thing). A
signifier is used by the person wanting to
communicate

The signified is what the sign or symbol

represents what it is interpreted to mean by the
receiver of the communication

Semiotics

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

Sign, object and interpretant

Peirce distinguished between three things:

The sign that stands for something else

The object it refers to (what the sign represents)

The interpretant (usually a person) who fulfils the

office of an interpreter this refers to the
interpretation placed on the sign

Peirces view recognizes that the same sign can

have different meanings depending upon the
context

Semiotics

Icon, index and symbol

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

An icon is a sign that signifies its meaning by

qualities of its own; it is like the thing it
represents (e.g. the icon of a trash can on Apple
and Windows computers)
A sign can also act as an index:
An indexical sign points to or indicates something else.
For example, a wavy line on a road might point to bends
in the road a few hundred yards ahead. A picture of a
silhouette of a man on a door might point to or indicate
that a mens bathroom is right here behind this door
(Hackley, 2003: 167)

A symbol is something that stands for or is

symbolic of something else

Semiotics

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

Encoding and decoding

The only way that messages can be

sent from one person to another is via
the use of a code

Encoding is the process of

transforming any thought or
communication into a message

Decoding is the process of reading the

message and understanding what it
means

For example, consider the road code only someone who can read the road
signs correctly is allowed to obtain a
drivers licence
Semiotics

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QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

Pragmatic, semantic and syntactic

Semiotic researchers often make a distinction

between various levels of the meaning of signs

The pragmatic level refers to the cultural context

within which communication takes place. The
pragmatic understanding of a sign is what the
people involved at the time expect and assume
the sign to mean in a particular situation

The semantic level refers to the precise meaning

of the signs. What does the sign refer to in any
given context?

The syntactic level refers to the rules governing

the use of the signs

Semiotics

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Syntagmatic analysis

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

Syntagmatic analysis involves studying the

structure of a text and the relationships between
its parts. There are three syntagmatic
relationships (Chandler, 2008):

1. Sequential relationships, as found in film and

television narrative sequences.
2. Spatial relationships, as found in posters and
photographs (where signs and symbols are
juxtaposed)
3. Conceptual relationships, such as in an argument

Semiotics

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QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

Paradigmatic analysis

Paradigmatic analysis seeks to identify the

various paradigms which underlie the content of
texts

A paradigm is a set of associated signifiers or

signifieds which are all members of some
defining category, but in which each is
significantly different (Chandler, 2008)

A paradigmatic analysis involves studying the

oppositions and contrasts between the signifiers
that belong to the same set from which those
used in the text were drawn (Chandler, 2008)

Semiotics

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QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

Polysemy

Texts and signs can have multiple meanings

Barthes suggests that all images are

polysemous. Images imply a floating chain of
signifieds,with the reader able to choose some
and ignore others (Barthes, 1985)

Scott (1994) says that meaning is not static

and that the meaning of texts and signs is
continually shifting

Semiotics

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QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

How to use semiotics

The qualitative researcher using semiotics has to

study the signs and symbols that are used in a
particular domain and identify the conventions of
their use

He or she has to decode the meanings conveyed

by the signs

The idea is to uncover the rules that govern

human behaviour

Semiotics

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An approach to semiotic analysis (Hackley,

2003)
What does X signify to me?

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

Questions to ask:

Why does X signify this to me?

What might X signify for others?
Why might X signify this for
others?

Possible sources of X:
Objects (visual semiosis):
Gesture (bodily semiosis):
Speech (verbal semiosis):

For example, clothes, hairstyles,

make-up styles, the ways objects are
used by people . . .
For example, body types, facial
types, expressive gestures, facial
expressions, posture, gaze . . .
For example, use of idiomatic
expressions, regional or national
accent or dialect, use of
metaphor/metonymy, tone and
volume of speech . . .

Semiotics

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QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

Critique of semiotics

Semiotics is potentially a very powerful way of

analysing and interpreting qualitative data in
business and organizational settings

Semiotics is well-grounded in linguistics and

structural anthropology hence it is relatively
easy to justify

One disadvantage of semiotics is its tendency to

treat people as somewhat passive

Semiotics

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