A social representations approach to the comparison of three textual corpora using ALCESTE

Three corpora of textual data on biotechnology from a range of sources(newspaper articles, focus group transcriptions and responses to an open-ended question from a survey) were analysed using the computer programALCESTE. A comparison of characteristic classes of words from eachcorpus was made in order to identify the stable components in the public’sperception of biotechnology seen in differing communicative contexts. Theresults indicate that at least three distinct representations are present in allthe spheres of discourse explored. The steps required to prepare text andcarry out analyses using the program are described, and an assessment ismade of the method and its prospects as a research tool.