New Tendencies in Computer-Assisted Text Analysis: Concepts, Methodology, Technology

The article gives an overview of the current state of concepts, methodology and technology in the field of computerized text analysis. The interdisciplinary methodology and technology of text analysis is developing in various fields of humaities, including historical research. In this research area historians borrowed much from sociologists and representatives of other social sciences and humanities. However, there are certain problems and, above all, it is the lack of basic monographs for the humanities on computer-assisted text analysis. Any textbook on research methods for the humanities includes the best, only one small section devoted to the analysis of texts. In the absence of the basic literature on the use of content analysis in historical research, many authors in their historiographical review mechanically regurgitate the same fragments of classical publications of 1970-1980's. These historiographical reviews often contain no references or contain unreliable references copied from Internet sites. It is therefore necessary to rethink the experience accumulated over the past two or three decades, and to evaluate the possible prospects considering such important factors as the emergence of the paradigm of the integration of qualitative and quantitative approaches in humanities research and prospects for computerized text analysis provided by the new generation of software products and the rapidly growing volume of electronic text archives.