From Words to Numbers Narrative, Data, and Social Science [Paperback]

This book offers a a way to analyze narrative data in socio-historical research.From Words to Numbers departs radically from traditional content analysis approaches to the quantitative study of texts. It is based on a rigorous linguistic theory of narrative, rather than the ad-hoc approaches of context analysis. Furthermore, it sows words to through an elegant mathematical t hread. Finally, it has engaged narrative structures dominated by the metaphors of the journey (from words to numbers) and the alchemy (words into numbers).From Words to Numbers departs radically from traditional content analysis approaches to the quantitative study of texts. It is based on a rigorous linguistic theory of narrative, rather than the ad-hoc approaches of context analysis. Furthermore, it sows words to through an elegant mathematical t hread. Finally, it has engaged narrative structures dominated by the metaphors of the journey (from words to numbers) and the alchemy (words into numbers).Departing radically from traditional content analysis approaches to the quantitative study of texts, this work is based on a linguistic theory of narrative, rather than the ad hoc approaches of context analysis. The book illustrates a set of tools--story grammars, relational data models, and network models--that can be profitably used for the collection, organization, and analysis of narrative data in socio-historical research (e.g., narratives of strikes, demonstrations, lynchings, and riots).Part I. From Words to Numbers: A Journey: Prologue; 1. 'In the beginning, there was the word'; 2. Ars memoriae; 3: everything is number; Part II. Looking Back: What's in the Numbers?: 4. The word and the world; 5. 'A worlde of wordes'; 6. Journeys end.