Discourse Analysis - Making Connections Between Knowledge and Power: An Interview with Debbie Payne  

Abstract
Discourse analysis is a relative newcomer to the variety of qualitative research methodologies used in nursing and midwifery research in Aotearoa/New Zealand. This is the seventh article in a series based on interviews with nursing and midwifery researchers, designed to offer the beginning researcher a first-hand account of the experience of using particular methodologies. This article focuses on discourse analysis as interpreted by Debbie Payne (RGON, MA [Hons]) in interview. Debbie has recently finished her PhD thesis (submitted for examination) and is a Senior Lecturer at the Auckland University of Technology. For her thesis Debbie used Foucauldian discourse analysis to explore the use of the term ‘elderly primigravida’ to describe mothers who are pregnant for the first time when aged 35 years or over.  

Keywords
Research, methodologies, discourse analysis, Foucauldian discourse analysis, elderly primigravida

Introduction
Discourse analysis is probably the least well known of the qualitative research methodologies. This article, the seventh in a series based on interviews with nursing and midwifery researchers, offers the beginning researcher a brief introduction to this research approach (refer to Giddings and Wood (2000) for background information on the series). It will focus on a specific approach to discourse analysis (Foucauldian) based on the writings of Michel Foucault [1926 - 1984]. An interview with Debbie Payne (RGON, MA [Hons]), a Senior Lecturer at the Auckland University of Technology, will then explore how one researcher has used this approach. Debbie has recently finished her PhD thesis (submitted for examination) and used Foucauldian discourse analysis to explore the use of the term ‘elderly primigravida’ to describe mothers who are pregnant for the first time when aged 35 years or over. Continued