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	Analisi Visiva	Analisi del Discorso	Analisi Documentale
Campo	Qualitativo	Ricerca qualitativa	Ricerca qualitativa
Famiglia	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Anno di origine	Formalized in social sciences from the 1980s–2000s	1989 (Fairclough); 1987 (Potter & Wetherell)	1920
Ideatore	Roots in art history and semiotics (Panofsky, Barthes); social science applications developed by Gillian Rose and Marcus Banks	Norman Fairclough; Jonathan Potter and Margaret Wetherell	Max Weber and Karl Mannheim
Tipo	Qualitative research approach	Method	Method
Fonte seminale	Rose, G. (2016). Visual Methodologies: An Introduction to Researching with Visual Materials (4th ed.). Sage. ISBN: 978-1473943056	Fairclough, N. (1989). Language and power. Longman.	Scott, J. (1990). A Matter of Record: Documentary Sources in Social Research. Polity Press. ISBN: 978-0745608419
Alias	visual research methods, image analysis, visual inquiry, visual data analysis	DA, Critical Discourse Analysis, Discursive Analysis	documentary analysis, textual analysis, content analysis of documents, archival research
Correlati	6	2	4
Sintesi	Visual analysis is a qualitative research approach that systematically examines visual materials — such as photographs, films, artworks, advertisements, and diagrams — to understand how meaning is produced, communicated, and interpreted. Drawing on traditions from art history, semiotics, and social science, it treats visual objects as data that carry social, cultural, and ideological significance. Multiple frameworks exist, from formal compositional analysis to discourse-based and audience-reception approaches.	Discourse analysis is a qualitative research methodology that examines how language, communication, and power shape meaning, identity, and social reality. Developed across linguistics, sociology, and psychology (particularly by Norman Fairclough and Jonathan Potter), discourse analysis goes beyond content to analyze language use as a social practice that constitutes and reflects power relations, ideologies, and social structures.	Document analysis is a systematic qualitative research method for examining written, visual, or audiovisual sources—such as policy documents, historical records, organizational records, media reports, emails, social media posts, photographs, or videos—to extract meaning, identify patterns, and understand social phenomena. Developed by Weber and Mannheim in early 20th-century sociology, the method bridges historical research, content analysis, and textual interpretation. Document analysis is used across disciplines to understand organizational change, policy evolution, media representation, historical events, and cultural meaning. Documents provide evidence of what organizations, institutions, or societies value, decide, and communicate, often revealing contradictions between policy and practice.