method in social sciences and particularly in communication research It involves looking at ‘texts’ written, audio or visual Content Analysis
Content analysis takes many forms you
must begin with a well-defined research problem that determines the questions and categories of interest Content Analysis Content Analysis is a formal system for doing something that we all do rather frequently drawing conclusions from observation of content Content Analysis is a research technique, which can be conducted both quantitatively and qualitatively Content Analysis
The purpose of the method is to identify and
count the occurrences of specified characteristics or dimensions of text and through this to be able to say something about the messages, images representations of such texts and their significance Content Analysis Traditional content analysis is said to be:
manifest content. Content Analysis This means: Objective -means logically, the opposite of subjective. Now how is this objectivity achieved? It is claimed that objectivity is achieved by having clearly defined categories, so that different people can apply them to the same content and get the same results. Systematic - means that a set of procedure is applied in the same way to all content being analyzed. It also means that categories are set up so that all relevant content is analyzed and designed in such a way to secure all the relevant information the research question or the hypothesis. Quantitative - Simply means the recording of the numerical values or frequencies with which the various defined type of content occur, a good example would be the frequency with which development news is given. Content Analysis Definition of content analysis required that inferences from content data be derived strictly from the frequencies with which the symbols or themes occur in the text The frequency with which some activity or phenomenon occur or is portrayed and its wider implication / impact is more complex Definitions
“Any systematic procedure devised to
examine the context of recorded informaton”-Walizer and Wienir (1978)
“It is a research technique for making
replicable and valid references from data to their context”.- Krippindorf (1980) Content Analysis Key steps: Definition of the research problem Selection of sample material Selection of unit of analysis Definition of analytical categories Construction of coding schedule Piloting the coding schedule and checking for reliability Content Analysis The next thing it is important to understand is how to develop categories. Researcher must construct a set of mutually exclusive and exhaustive categories Categories must be: Pertinent to the objective of the research. Categories must be functional. System of categories must be manageable. Content Analysis
How to check whether categories pertinent
or not? Does the information they yield answer the research question or permit testing of the hypothesis of the study. Content Analysis
When we say categories should be
functional we presume that the content under study will say something about the media process - how decisions are made by the reporter, cameraperson, editors, anchors etc. Content Analysis
Keeping the categories manageable is mostly
about limiting the number of categories because coders have to refer to a list of category definitions and if the numbers are too large it makes matters difficult. Content Analysis The analysis can be made in terms of: Frequency with which each category appears The amount of space allotted to the category The strength or intensity with which the category is represented Content Analysis Operational Definitions An operational definition tells how you will measure something and forces you to explain how you understand or interpret a concept. Offering an operational definition of your term is very difficult and is the weak point in many content analyses. If others rejects your definitions they may reject your findings as being irrelevant or unsound • It is the smallest element of a content analysis.
• Operational definitions of the unit of analysis should be clear.
• Ex. Number of minutes, worlds, inches, columns etc.
Content Analysis Reliability of Coding: The fact that content analysis is defined as systematic and objective means the researcher must be concerned with reliability By reliability here we mean simply consistency of classification e.g. if there are two coders both must agree what a category means e.g. what is a favorable statement what is not a favorable statement. The attempt is to achieve the same level of agreement. Content Analysis Data Analysis: The data take form of numbers through some measurement operation This measurement maybe of different kinds and different levels Measurement involves classification or categorization Content Analysis Classification implies that one is not the same as the other but does not say one is greater than the other Magnitude is a system of ranking Intervals and ratios may also have to be looked at Frequencies tells you the number of times each observation has occurred in a set of data Content Analysis Other Statistical Tools: Averages and Dispersion: Mean Mode Median Variance Standard deviation Range Correlation Coefficient