Research process

The data used in this research was from three websites on the internet so the process of data collection did not take time. All websites were saved in a Word document so the layout, hyperlinks and visual material were also visible. Photos were downloaded in their original digital formats so that the quality was ensured. This way, the data were ready in digital form for the coding phase with software.

The analysis process began with initial approach to data set. Particularly, the author read the texts, looked at photos, and repeated the process several times to get familiar with the material.

Impressions and ideas were noted down for further examination. The notes assisted CDA’s open coding phase. Coding is one of the important steps to analyse a qualitative data. It was also the most time-consuming process in this research’s empirical study. This study followed the suggestions of experienced qualitative analysts to separate coding process into two phases, first stage of open coding and second of focused coding (Bazeley 2013, 126, Saldaña 2013, 20–1).

In the first stage, the author started with the preliminary coding phase. The data was printed and coded on paper. This process was done with random coding method by which any discourses that were worth of analysing would be noted and labelled. There were too many codes produced in the first stage of my research. As expected, the result from this first stage was not good enough for analysis. However, it suggested the categorisation of discourses and directions for the second coding phase.

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Then comes the second stage in which the codes were refined and categorised. At this stage, the author decided to code with the help of a qualitative analysis method program. The electronic software Atlas.ti 7 was utilised to assist coding process. One strength of using software for this research was the fact that all material were available in digital format. Another strength was its support to deal with complexity of data like grouping general patterns, working with clusters (Rogers, A Critical Discourse Analysis of Literate Identities Across Contexts:

Alignment and Conflict 2004, 57) and semantic networks. During this phase, the codes were refined several times until a set of final codes is valid for analysis.

Once the final codes were ready, the analysing process began. The analysis followed three-dimensional framework of analysing discourse by Fairclough (See Figure 5 on page 34).

Particularly, the author analysed the data according to three levels: Text, Interaction and Context. The first level answered how the text was constructed and what meaning it carried.

The second resolved how the text was received and understood. The last level referred to the social practices that influenced the text. Some analytical functions of the software Atlas.ti 7 were also used to support analysing process.

The last stage of empirical study consisted of reflecting to the research questions and theoretical framework and writing down the results.

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4. ANALYSIS

Online development contests (ODC) does not exist in a vacuum. There is at least an individual or a group of people in charge of launching and maintaining the contest. In this research’s cases, three organisations held three different contests. They have particular aims, objectives and strategies which could be disclosed by the linguistic use, discourses and discursive practices of the contests’ communication materials. As “call for entry” webpages are the materials that directly approach young participants, a critical discourse analysis of these materials is useful to understand youth empowerment discourses in online development contests.

This section goes into the in-depth analysis of youth empowerment discourses in the “call for entry” material of the three contests. The popular discourses found from the three contests were:

motivational discourse, participatory discourse and self-efficient discourse. The structure of the analysis followed the three-dimensional approach of analysing discourse designed by Norman Fairclough which involves text, interaction and social context (Fariclough 1992). The three corresponding processes in the frameworks are description, interpretation and explanation (See Figure 8 on page 36). In particular, the description of discourse will be presented and analysed under linguistic perspective. Examples will be given to illustrate the practical use of language and discourse in one contest. At the same time, the author will analyse the process of interpretation of that specific discourse under the context of the relevant contest. After presenting the discourses found from the materials, an analysis of the appropriate social context helps explain the construction of those discursive practices.

4.1 MOTIVATIONAL DISCOURSES

The concept of motivation rooted from concepts “instinct” of William McDougall and “drive”

by Sigmund Freud (Leontiev 2012, 10). It explains the psychological cause why people perform certain act at certain circumstance (Leontiev 2012, 11). In the later studies of motivation, the concept was built in relations with both psychological and behavioural studies. It is defined to comprise rationale, objectives and reasoning to engage in a specific activity (Elsworth 2009, 9). In the field of education, motivation is believed to have an impact on learners’ cognitive process, their effort and persistence with the study objective (Elsworth 2009, 9, Peck, et al.

2008). Since youth’s attention and perseverance are significantly shorter than that of adults,

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motivation plays an important part in maintaining their resilience (Pintrich 1999, Ramey, et al.

2015, 238). Similarly, participating in an online contest requires a lot of effort and persistence because prizes are judged base on the quality and performance of entrants. However, unlike the educational environment, there are a limited amount of highest positions and awards. Therefore, the requirement and competitiveness are much higher than that of the classroom. This competitive environment of contest can easily dampen people’s intention to participate. Hence, they need motivational boost to start and continue to compete. That explained why the motivational discourse was the most prominent discourse which appeared in all the three contests.