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Content Analysis

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 Quadrant-I (e-Text)

Module name/ title: Content Analysis

Paper: Communications Research

Component I: Personal Details

Role Name Affiliation

Principal Investigator Prof. Biswajit Das Centre for Culture, Media
& Governance,
JamiaMilliaIslamia, Delhi
Co-Principal Investigator Dr. Durgesh Tripathi University School of Mass
Communication, Guru
Gobind Singh
Indraprastha University,
Delhi
Paper Coordinator (if Dr. Sunitha Chitrapu Social Communications
any) Media Department
(SCMSophia), Sophia-
Smt. Manorama Devi
Somani College, Mumbai
400 026
Content Writer/ Dr. Huma Parveen Dept. of Mass-
Author(s) Communication, Aligarh
Muslim University
NayeemShowkat Department of Mass
Communication, Aligarh
Muslim University, Aligarh
Content Reviewer Prof. Biswajit Das Centre for Culture, Media
& Governance, Jamia
Millia Islamia, Delhi
Language Editor Mr. P K Satapathy Department of English,
School of Open Learning,
University of Delhi

Component II: Description of the Module

Items Description of Module

Subject Name Communication Studies
Paper Name Communications Research
Module Name/Title Content Analysis
Module ID P2M27
Pre-requisites
Objectives
Keywords Content Analysis

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Module 27: Content Analysis

1. Introduction

Interpretation of what is contained (content) in a message is called content analysis.

According to Cole (1988), it is a “method of analysing written, verbal or visual
communication messages.” Content analysis is the study of recorded human
communications such as dairy entries, books, newspaper, videos, text messages,
tweets, Facebook updates etc. Being the scientific study of the content of
communication, content analysis is actually the study of contexts, meanings,
subtexts, intentions contained in the messages. In simple terms, content analysis is
the analysis of what is being said, written or recorded. Through systematic
classification process of coding and identifying themes or patterns, content analysis
is a “research method for the subjective interpretation of the content of text data,”
(Hsieh & Shannon, 2005). To further make it easy to understand, we can say content
is a message, and analysis its meaning. For example; If a researcher wishes to study
whether Indian newspapers promote violence, she can draw the sample from some
important Indian newspapers and analyse the content selected from the newspaper.
Analysis of the selected content will help to unearth the real picture.

Content analysis can be done both quantitatively as well as qualitatively. On the

basis of this, we can broadly divide it into two categories;

2. Qualitative Content Analysis & Quantitative Content Analysis

Primarily, content analysis had been used as a quantitative research method. Now,
it’s being used as a qualitative research technique or both. The qualitative approach
of this technique has been able to address grey areas of the quantitative approach.
Now, instead of being a single-method, content analysis has three different
approaches; conventional, directed, or summative.

Even though coding schemes are directly derived from the text data in the
conventional content analysis, the theory or earlier researchers lay the foundations
for primary codes in the directed approach of the scheme. Counting and
comparisons of the keywords or content followed by analysis are cardinal in the third
and the final approach, summative content analysis. Unlike the earlier approach, the
qualitative approach enables to provide a detailed and in-depth description of the
content. As per Zhang & Wildemuth (2009), “Through careful data preparation,
coding, and interpretation, the results of the qualitative content analysis can support
the development of new theories and models, as well as validate existing theories
and provide thick descriptions of particular settings or phenomena.”

There are generally two types of content analysis;

1. Conceptual Analysis: deals with the analysis of the existence and frequency of
concepts in human communication.

2. Rational Analysis: Analysing the relationship of concepts in human

communication.

3. Process of Content Analysis

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There are few simple steps to understand the whole process of content analysis. To
start with;

1. Identify your research question: For example; Does media portray violence?

2. Select your sample: For example; You have decided to study the content of The
Indian Express newspaper. Through multi-stage systematic sampling, you may
select 12 issues of the newspaper of a particular year following any systematic
scheme like 1st Jan, 2nd Feb, 3 March, 4th April, 5th May…. 12th Dec. This will be
your sample.

3. Skim the material selected through the aforementioned procedure and make a
list of main themes you plan to analyse.

For example; If you are studying the portrayal of women in media. During the review
of the material like films, videos, soap operas etc., you can categorise themes like
Women as Leaders, Women in Education, Women in Private Sector and many other
negative and positive categories. Keeping those themes in mind, you can classify the
content accordingly.

4. This would become your coding system or scheme.

Note: Coding means to put information into a quantifiable form. You need trained
coders for coding. Both the training and the experience of the coder are necessary
for reliable coding (Neuendorf, 2002). To ensure the consistency of coding,
especially when multiple coders are involved, you should develop a coding manual,
which usually consists of category names, definitions or rules for assigning codes,
and examples (Weber, 1990).

5. Keep in mind, the categories made during the preliminary study shouldn’t
overlap each other. The categories or themes must be defined in a way that would
be easily understandable. In this regard, operational definitions are cardinal.

6. You can classify the content on basis of these themes or categories.

7. In case, some content doesn’t fit any of the categories but is related to the topic
under study, you can make few new categories like miscellaneous or others and list
the content accordingly.

8. After qualitative analysis of the content, you can also quantify these themes
simply by counting the frequencies. Hence, analysis of the content can be done in
both qualitative as well as quantitative manner at the same time.

Enlisting the uses of content analysis into the context of basic communication
paradigm, eminent political scientist and academician, Holsti (1969) has amassed
fifteen different features of the content into three sets.

1. Make inferences about the antecedents of a communication.

2. Describe and make inferences about characteristics of a communication.

3. Make inferences about the effects of a communication.

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Berelson (1952) suggests that content analysis is "objective, systematic, and

quantitative.” Content analysis is based on the three basic doctrines of the scientific
method like all other methods of research. They are as below;

1. Objectivity: Different researchers will be enabled to obtain the same result from
the same sources as the analysis is guided by some clear-cut rules.

2. Systematic: By eradicating the chances of incorporating the only material

supporting the researcher’s idea, the exclusion and inclusion of the content are
guided by strongly reliable rules.

3. External validity or Generalizability: The extent to which results obtained by the

researcher can be generalised or applied to other similar situations.

Before going further into the terminology, let’s do an interesting exercise on our daily
basis practices to understand this very simple concept of content analysis. Suppose,
you reached ABC hotel to eat something very special today with only Rs. 120 in your
pocket. Problem. You will pick up the menu and read it thoroughly. There may be
food items listed in different categories like Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Arabic etc.
Population. As you feel to eat Indian food only so Indian category becomes your
target. Sample. You will go through the menu card and check almost all the food
items including the prices listed under this category. While selecting a food item
which could satisfy your taste buds, you will continuously think of your budget. Your
whole search has been revolving around your taste buds and your budget. Coding
Scheme. You will finally reach a conclusion to order a dish, selected from a range of
food items which suits both the aforementioned conditions. So, what did you
understand? You did a content analysis following the whole process. With a
problem, special food on a limited budget, you perused the list of food items keeping
these two themes or categories in mind. These two themes became the de facto
coding scheme for your search.

4. Unit of Analysis

The analysts reduce the content to small units so that they can measure it. This small
discretely defined element becomes the basic unit of measurement or analysis. In
content analysis, the basic unit of analysis can be a word, a phrase, a sentence, a
paragraph, an article, an image, a video, a MMS, a TV programme etc. For example;
a 30-seconds video, or one minute or audio may form the unit of analysis.

During the 19th century, according to Harwood & Garry (2003), content analysis was
used to analyse newspaper articles, magazines, hymns, advertisements and other
political speeches. Over the period of time, this method has witnessed a steady
growth in the others fields of social science, arts and humanities. The method of
content analysis can be applied to study majorly five types of texts.

1. Written texts – Including documents, books, papers, newspapers etc.

2. Oral texts– including sound, speeches, audio-messages, lectures etc.

3. Iconic texts– Including graphs, paintings, posters, drawings etc.

4. Audio-Visual texts– including films, MMS, videos etc.

5. Hypertexts – texts on the internet.

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5. Significance of Content Analysis

Communication research has been gaining significant importance. There is an

important need to study the areas of communication untouched yet. In this regard,
the filed of communication research is predominantly dependent on content analysis.
Being one of the most employed analytical tools used in this multi-discipline, content
analysis is basically a set of procedures used to transfer discrete information into an
organised format allowing analysts to make inferences. It is a research technique of
coding and interpreting text to make a valid and replicable inference. Through this
method of data analysis, inferences about the characteristics and meaning of written
and other forms of recorded communication can be gauged effectively. For example;
through the framing of the media content, researchers can analyse the tone
(negative, positive or neutral) of the news stories published by the selected
newspapers. Content analysis can be used to study the documents, artefacts, films,
audios and other forms of communication text. It can be referred to a method of
extracting meaningful information from complex, lengthy messages or text. Through
content analysis, we actually assign meaning to the content (messages) and draw
significant conclusions.

For example; If a researcher is studying the coverage given by The Indian Express
newspaper to sanitation issues in India, through the help of pre-determined
keywords, she will collect all the articles related to sanitation of a particular time
period and then make inferences. Note: Pre-determined keywords are the important
words used in the text. For example; If you want to study Coverage of Climate
Change in India. Climate Change, Global Warming, Green House Gases etc. are the
important keywords or themes you have to search in the headlines and leads of the
news stories while sifting the newspaper. Mostly these keywords are listed or
collected through a pilot study. A pilot study is a primarily or small study conducted in
advance or before the actual research.

In addition to obtrusive research in few cases, content analysis is one of the most
effective methods of conducting an unobtrusive research (the research that doesn’t
collect data directly from people). Through content analysis, we actually study
material rather than people directly.

As per Krippendorff (1980), in content analysis, six questions must be addressed.

1. Which data are analysed?

2. How are they defined?

3. What is the population from which they are drawn?

4. What is the context relative to which the data are analysed?

5. What are the boundaries of the analysis?

6. What is the target of the inferences?

Many scholars have undermined the importance of content analysis when compared
with discourse analysis. Even though scholars believe that there is a significant
difference between discourse and content analysis, but no discourse analysis is
actually possible without content analysis. Content analysis is key to the discourse,
document, policy analysis, framing etc. Framing, discourse, document and policy
analysis may be categorised as the second-level methods of content analysis. Being

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the backbone of the communication research, content analysis is proved to be

instrumental in both exploratory as well as descriptive research studies. It may be
used with either qualitative or quantitative data or both and in an inductive or
deductive way.

For example; content analysis will enable a researcher to understand in terms of

variables of frequency and prominence given to the topics under study at the same
time. It enables the researcher to systematically identify the properties of the content.

Even though content is central to the communication, but content is not all bout the
plain text. Multiple interpretations of the same content could be drawn by different
analysts. There is always a hidden text within the visible text. Subtexts, contexts are
always attached with all sort of content. Mostly the text is an easily and commonly
understandable unit of communication. We need interpretation to understand subtext
and contexts. Analysis of the content is actually a multi-dimensional approach to
understand or trace out various meanings or dimensions of a simple text. Analysis of
content is as important as content itself. In content analysis, mostly two types of
content can be analysed;

1. Manifest Content

2. Latent Content

Manifest content is a type of content which can be directly observed, looked at, see
or hear. This is why it’s also called observable content. On the other side, latent
content is the hidden meaning of the manifest content.

Let’s repeat the earlier exercise. Congratulations, you got the first salary of your life.
On this great occasion, now you wish to serve best Indian food to your mother and
father but you don’t know how to sample the best Indian cuisine. Problem. You ask
your friends but they have a range of suggestions. One of your friends solves the
puzzle by informing that in the year 2015, XYZ newspaper has published some 20
articles on Tuesdays only rating different famous Indian foods served in Delhi.
Happy?

No, there is ananother small problem. You can’t just go and pick one issue of the
aforementioned newspaper and get to know the best food. You have to do a lot of
homework for your parents whom you owe all this.

Visualising the hardships endured by your parents to bring you up, you made your
mind to go for it, whatever may be the condition. You were still picturing the past,
another problem suddenly came to your mind; there were 52 Tuesdays in 2015 and
the articles published were only 20. So, how to solve the puzzle of this best food?

Simply, you need to go to the library and collect all the issues of XYZ newspaper
published in 2015. After that, you will select all the issues published on Tuesdays. In
total, you have to collect 52 issues of the newspaper. You are choosing your
sample. You need to skim all the 52 issues so that you could identify those 20 issues
containing stories on best ratings. Here you are choosing your content. Once, all
the 20 issues are identified, you have to select the stories about Indian dishes.
Rating is a coding scheme. Read the stories thoroughly and note the ratings. You
need to compare the ratings to find an answer to your problem. Conclusion. So,
through the help of this content analysis, you can serve your parents best Indian
cuisine now.

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6. Strengths and Limitations of Content Analysis

Content analysis has many advantages over other research techniques;

• Content analysis method is economical.

• The method can be applied to both qualitative as well as quantitative research.

• It’s unobtrusive.

Apart from the above-listed strengths of this research method, there are few
shortcomings of this technique as well;

• One of the most quoted problems of content analysis, it remains to be the time-
consuming process.

• As Riffe, Lacy, and Fico (1998) suggest the “essence of the validity problem in
content analysis…,” there are concerns about the reliability and validity of the
method.

• The personal bias of the researcher can’t be minimised.

7. Summary

In this paper, we have learned the importance, process and methods of content
analysis research method. After understanding the concept, we have explored the
processes of conducting a qualitative as well as quantitative research through the
help of content analysis. We have discussed the issues to be taken care of while
applying the method. The paper further highlights few strengths and weaknesses of
this research method. With proper examples, we have demonstrated how we can
deconstruct or construct a meaning or concept of the content of text data. Now, we
can apply this method in our research for the interpretation of the content to draw
meaningful conclusions. Through the help of this technique, we have learned to
explore theories, and further contribute paramount literature to the body of
knowledge.

References

1. Berelson, B. (1952). Content Analysis in Communication Research. Glencoe,

Ill: Free Press.
2. Busch, C., Maret, P. S. De., Flynn, T., Kellum, R., Le, S., Meyers, B., …
Palmquist, M. (1994 - 2012). Content Analysis. Writing@CSU. Colorado State
University. Available at
https://writing.colostate.edu/guides/guide.cfm?guideid=61.
3. Cole F.L. (1988) Content analysis: process and application. Clinical Nurse
Specialist, 2(1), 53–57.
4. Elo, S. and Kyngäs, H. (2008), The qualitative content analysis process.
Journal of Advanced Nursing, 62: 107–115. doi:10.1111/j.1365-
2648.2007.04569.x.
5. Frey, L., Botan, C., & Kreps, G. (1999). Investigating communication: An
introduction to research methods. (2nd ed.) Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
6. Harwood T.G. & Garry T. (2003) An overview of content analysis. The
Marketing Review, 3, 479–498.

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7. Holsti, Ole R. (1969). Content Analysis for the Social Sciences and
Humanities. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
8. Hsieh, H. F., & Shannon, S. E. (2005). Three approaches to qualitative content analysis.
Qualitative Health Research, 15(9), 1277-1288.
9. Hsieh, H.-F., & Shannon, S.E. (2005). Three approaches to qualitative
content analysis. Qualitative Health Research, 15(9), 1277-1288.
10. Krippendorff, K. (2012). Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its
Methodology. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
11. Neuendorf, K.A. (2002). The Content Analysis Guidebook. Thousand
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12. Prasad, B. D. (2008). Content Analysis: A method in social science
research. In D.K. Lal Das & V. Bhaskaran (Eds.). Research methods for
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13. Riffe, D., Lacy, S., & Fico, F. (1998). Analyzing media messages: Using
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