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Another category of text analysis treats texts as reflections of the practical knowledge of their authors. This type of analysis is prevalent in grounded theory studies (see Chapter 4) as well as in applied studies of expert discourses. Interest in the informative analysis of texts is due in part to its practical value, because user-generated texts can potentially provide analysts with reliable information about social reality. Naturally, the quality of information about social reality that is contained in texts varies according to the level of knowledge of each individual who has participated in the creation of the text, and the information that subjects provide is partial insofar as it is filtered by their own particular point of view.

An example of analysis of texts as social information is a 2012 psychological study by Colley and Neal on the topic of organizational safety. Starting with small representative samples of upper managers, supervisors, and workers in an Australian freight and passenger rail company, Colley and Neal conducted open-ended interviews with members of the three groups. These were transcribed and analyzed using Leximancer (see Appendix C) for map analysis (see also Appendix G). Comparing the concept maps produced for the three groups revealed significant differences between the “safety climate schema” of upper managers, supervisors, and workers.