Case Studies and Content Analysis

• case study


  an in-depth investigation of an individual, institution or event
• 2 strengths of using a case study


  -provides rich, in-depth information- gives new insight into unusual and atypical forms of behaviour

  -may generate hypotheses for future study and trigger the revision of an entire theory
• 2 limitations of using a case study


  -difficult to generalise from individual cases

  -information that makes it into final report is based on subjective selection and interpretation of the researcher
• content analysis


  a kind of observational study of qualitative data in which behaviour is observed indirectly via the communications they have produced (eg emails, spoken interaction, examples from the media etc), can involve either qualitative or quantitative analysis or both
• qualitative and quantitative types of content analysis


  QUANTITATIVE=coding- the analysis of communication by placing into categories and then counting

  QUALITATIVE-thematic analysis- the analysis of communication that involves identifying implicit/explicit ideas within data (often after coding)
• two strengths of using content analysis


  -high ecological validity- based on observations of what people actually do

  -when resources can be assessed by others the content analysis can be replicated- observations can be tested for reliability
• two limitations of using content analysis


  -observer bias- different observers may interpret meaning of behavioural categories differently

  -culture biased- interpretation of written or verbal content will be affected by the language and culture of observer