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DOCUMENT/
by Jesus M. Meneses III

CONTENT
ANALYSIS

What is Content Analysis?

A method of analyzing written, verbal or visual
communication messages (Cole 1988).
is a systematic and objective means of describing
and quantifying phenomena (Krippendorff 1980,
Downe-Wamboldt 1992, Sandelowski 1995).
Is a systematic technique for analyzing message
content and message handling (Valbuena 1985)
Is a method of observation by way of indirect
investigation using the communications people
have produced (Kerlinger 1964)

Purpose
(Ariola 2006)

Explain the status of phenomenon at a

particular time
Give additional knowledge or information
Explain certain events and occurrences
not yet very clear to the readers
Relate the content of the material to some
other field of discipline

Types of Content Analysis

Conceptual Analysis
Relational Analysis
Quantitative Analysis
Qualitative Analysis

Conceptual Analysis
also known as thematic analysis. Thematic analysis is the
most common form of analysis in qualitative research. It emphasizes pinpointing, examining, and
recording patterns (or "themes") within data. Themes are patterns across data sets that are
important to the description of a phenomenon and are associated to a specific research question .

the analysis involves quantifying and tallying

the presence of the chosen concept.
the focus here is on looking at the occurrence
of selected terms within a text or texts
Coding involves the use of either a specialized
dictionary or contextual translation rules.

Relational Analysis
Also known as semantic analysis
seeks the relationships between the
concepts identified rather than its mere
presence in the text.
the focus of the analysis is to look for
semantic, or meaningful, relationships of
concepts identified

Quantitative
A research technique for the objective, systematic
and quantitative description of the manifest
content of communication.
Based upon the relative frequencies of a particular
content occurring in a communication outlet
Focus upon the straight description of the content
itself
Breaks down complex materials into components
so that they can be measured.

Qualitative
Qualitative content analysis is a
systematic, replicable technique for
compressing many words of text into fewer
content categories based on explicit rules
of coding. It often involves building and
applying a concept dictionary or fixed
vocabulary of terms on the basis of which
words are extracted from the textual data
for concording or statistical computation.

Qualitative
Based upon the presence or absence of
particular content
Focuses on intentions of a communicator
Less concerned with content per se than
with content as a reflection
Employs less formalized categorization
but utilizes more complex themes

Applications
1.

As to characteristics:
To describe trends in communication content
To trace the development of scholarship
To disclose international differences in
communication content
To compare media or levels of communication
To audit communication content against
objectives
To construct and apply communication standards

Application
To aid in technical research operations
To expose propaganda techniques
To measure the readability of
communication materials
To discover stylistic features

Application
1. As to Procedure or Causes of content
To identify the intentions and other
character of the communicator
To determine the psychological state of
persons and groups
To detect the existence of propaganda
To secure political and military
intelligence

Application
3. As to Audience or consequences of
content
To reflect attitude, interests and values
To reveal the focus of attention
To describe attitudinal and behavioral
responses to communications

Methods
1. Selection of the unit of analysis
-Words, statement, sentences, paragraph or
entire article.
2. Category construction
-must be pertinent to the objective of the study
- Should be functional
- The system of categories must be
management

Methods
3. Sampling of Content
-Sampling in content is no different from
sampling in surveys.
4. Reliability of Coding
- Precise definitions of categories
- Going over the definition with coders
- Item by item comparison

Contents that can be analyzed

Manifest observable contents
Latent the underlying meaning of the
content.
Verbal all kinds of written messages e.g.
texts found on books, journal, magazine etc
Non-Verbal refers to unwritten form of
communication e.g. painting, sculpture,
drawing, music etc.

Advantages
looks directly at communication via texts or transcripts, and hence gets
at the central aspect of social interaction
can allow for both quantitative and qualitative operations
can provides valuable historical/cultural insights over time through
analysis of texts
allows a closeness to text which can alternate between specific
categories and relationships and also statistically analyzes the coded
form of the text
can be used to interpret texts for purposes such as the development of
expert systems (since knowledge and rules can both be coded in terms
of explicit statements about the relationships among concepts)
is an unobtrusive means of analyzing interactions
provides insight into complex models of human thought and language
use

Disadvantages
can be extremely time consuming
is subject to increased error, particularly when relational
analysis is used to attain a higher level of interpretation
is often devoid of theoretical base, or attempts too liberally to
draw meaningful inferences about the relationships and
impacts implied in a study
is inherently reductive, particularly when dealing with complex
texts
tends too often to simply consist of word counts
often disregards the context that produced the text, as well as
the state of things after the text is produced
can be difficult to automate or computerize