Content Analysis Chapter 13
Content Analysis
Chapter 13
Introduction
Content Analysis A method of data collection in which some
form of communication is studied systematically
Uses available data such as speeches, TV programs, newspaper articles, films, and advertisements
Focal Research
Reloading the Canon: The Timing of Diversification in American Literature Anthologies by Mikaila Mariel Lemonik Arthur, Adam Clark, Roger Clark & Jennifer Racine Examines the changing visibility of women,
African American, Native American, Hispanic American and Asian American authors in American literature anthologies over the last half century
Focal Research
Ethics In this research, Arthur, Clark, Clark and
Racine are studying published materials rather than human subjects, so their main ethical responsibility is to report their findings honestly.
Appropriate Topics for Content Analysis Can be applied to any form of communication
including movies, television shows, speeches, letters, obituaries, editorials, and song lyrics
Appropriate Topics for Content Analysis Materials appropriate for content analysis
Studies have focused on suicide notes, letters, magazines, wills, textbooks, radio programs, personal ads, verbal exchanges, speeches, etc…
Systematic content analysis seems to date to the late 1600s with counting the words in religious hymns
Appropriate Topics for Content Analysis Questions Asked by Content Analyzers
Who says what, to whom, why, how, and with what effect?
Another frequent use of content analysis is hypothesis testing.
Example Do you think local, regional, or national newspapers
are more likely to headline international stories on the top of the front page?
Quantitative Content Analysis
Quantitative Content Analysis Analysis focused on the variable
characteristics of communication
Quantitative Content Analysis
Units of analysis The units about which information is collected
Quantitative Content Analysis
Units of observation The units from which information is collected
Quantitative Content Analysis
Example If you were interested in the difference
between commercials during children’s and adults’ TV programs, your units of observation would be children’s and adults’ TV programs, but the units of analysis would be the commercials attached to those programs.
Quantitative Content Analysis
Sampling In content analysis, units of analysis can be
words, phrases, sentences, themes, photographs, chapters, authors, books, etc…
Once you have chosen the units of analysis, you can sample them with any conventional sampling technique
Quantitative Content Analysis
Creating Meaningful Variables Content analysis depends on the researcher's
capacity to create and record meaningful variables for classifying units of analysis
Quantitative Content Analysis
Qualitative Content Analysis?
Quantitative content analysis Content analysis designed for statistical analysis Quantitative content analysis is the most common
kind in the social sciences Tends to be more deductive
Qualitative Content Analysis?
Qualitative content analysis Content analysis designed for verbal analysis Few guidelines Tends to be more inductive
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis A set of techniques used to analyze images Visual analysts study photographs, video images,
paintings, drawings, maps, single images, and collections of images
Images can be used as sources of factual information, as a record of reality or how their creators think of reality
Can be quantitative or qualitative
Stop and Think
Have a look at the picture on the cover of your text book.
What do you think the authors were trying to convey about the book by using it?
In answering this question, have you done a quantitative or qualitative visual analysis?
Advantages and Disadvantages of Content Analysis
Advantages Cheap Coding Unobtrusive
Advantages and Disadvantages of Content Analysis
Disadvantages May only be used with recorded communications Issues surrounding validity
Summary
Content analysis Unit of analysis Hypothesis testing Meaningful variables Coding schemes Advantages Disadvantages
Quiz – Question 1
Like other kinds of social research, one of the first steps in content analysis is to determine
a. the number of cases that the research will focus on.
b. the kind of medium that the analysis will focus on.
c. the units of analysis that the research will focus on.
d. None of the above
Quiz – Question 2
Units of analysis area. the units from which information is collected.
b. the units about which information is collected.
c. the standard unit of measure in all types of social research.
d. None of the above
Quiz – Question 3
What type of sampling is used in content analysis?
a. Simple
b. Random
c. Stratified
d. All of the above
e. None, sampling does not occur