Developing a Systematic-Dynamic Approach to Critical Discourse Analysis: A Study Protocol in the Context of the Doctor–Patient Relationship in Western China

Chinese scholarship conducting/attempting critical discourse analysis (CDA) on the doctor–patient relationship in China has, to date, predominantly relied on the use of analytical tools from systemic functional linguistics and pragmatics. This methodological orientation, by prioritizing the linguistic structure and functions of the textual data, does not tend to take into consideration the sociocultural contexts, complex power relations, genealogy of discourse, and practice-orientedness of discourse that CDA approaches usually touch on. This protocol article proposes a research design that constructs a systematic-dynamic CDA approach in the context of the doctor–patient relationship in western China in order to incorporate the aforementioned factors that previous Chinese scholarship has ignored. Physicians, cancer patients and their family members, and CDA methodologists are to be recruited to participate in focus groups and interviews to discuss the doctor–patient relationship from their own experience and to inform the construction of an integrated CDA approach. Qualitative context analysis will be adopted to analyze texts transcribed from interviews and focus groups, in order to generate themes and new concepts for the design of a novel systematic-dynamic CDA framework. By establishing an integrated CDA approach tailored to the doctor–patient relationship in western China, we will be able to provide empirical evidence and valuable insights to practitioners and policymakers to ease doctor–patient conflicts, which have intensified in recent years, and facilitate more harmonious relationships.