What They Say is What They Do: Text Analysis and Political Elites

Abstract

Increases in the availability of text data, coupled with improvements in statistical methods and computer power, have increased the ability to analyze the behaviour of elites directly from what they say. The papers in this panel use the complete text record of what was said in the Australian federal parliament to examine how political behaviour is affected by: gender; the relative importance of portfolios; and an elite's state compared with their party. These papers illustrate how the text analysis of directly what was said enhances our understanding of some key drivers of the behaviour of elites.