Petitions and Prayers: A Method for the Content Analysis of Persuasive Appeals

Abstract

This paper describes a method for the content analysis of persuasive appeals, or “reasons” given in support of requests which individuals make of one another. The method was originally developed in the context of a series of studies of communication between bureaucracies and the public in Israel. It is suggested that variations in the content of a client's appeals to an official for services or favors may be projective of the client's image of the organization and of the client's theory concerning how such organizations might be manipulated. The applicability of the method to the study of official-client relations is illustrated and some potential uses of the method are suggested in the fields of politics, advertising, the socialization of children, and the comparative study of religion.