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