content analysis

• content analysis is when a researcher looks at content of something and further analyses it
• by conducting content analysis the researcher tends to make observations indirectly through books, films and advertisements (any artifact people have produced) rather than observing people
• there are 3 main reasons that researchers must consider during content analysis including:

  • sampling method
  • coding the data
  • method of representing data
• researchers must consider the sampling method they use during content analysis

  • research has to decide following:
  • what researcher will look at (pages in book)
  • how does researcher select sources (if comparing books)
  • how does researcher sample behaviours (if looking at TV advert)
• researcher must consider coding data during analysis

  • if researcher uses behavioural categories
  • if decisions about behavioural categories may involve thematic analysis
• researchers should consider the methods of presenting data dyring content analysis:

  • to identify behavioural categories
  • to record instances in each category
  • count instances - quantitative anlsysis
  • describe examples - qualitative analysis
• example of researchers conducting content analysis

  • manstead and mcculloch - interested in way men and women portrayed tv adverts
  • observed 170 adverts over 1 week period (ignoring those containing only children or animals)
  • within each advert they focused on central adult figure and recorded frequencies in a table
• example of qualitative content analysis - joronen and astedt kurki

  • considered role of family in adolescents peer and social experiences
  • conducted semi structured interviews with 19 adolescents and produced 234 pages of notes - analysed using content analysis

  1. all answers to same question were placed together
  2. each statement was compressed and given identifier code
  3. statements were compared and categorised
  4. categories then grouped into larger units - producing 8 main categories

  • conclusion - school should pay more attention to multiple relationships that determine adolescents behaviour
• strengths of doing content analysis

  • high ecological validity as based on observations of what people do
  • observations can be tested for reliability as content analysis can be replicated
• limitations of content analysis

  • observer bias reduces objectivity and validity or findings
  • likely to be culture biased