content analysis

• what is content analysis used for?

  Analysing content for incidences of certain words, images or concepts within a material
• what type of observation is content analysis?

  An indirect observation
• where is the content for content analysis found?

  Various media such as films shows news programs and interviews
• what type of data does content analysis produce?


  quantitative when recording unit such as themes tone or individual words against a behavioural checklist
• what is the process of content analysis?

  Decisions about a sampling method and what material to sample and how frequently are made

  Decisions about coding units we need operationalised decisions of each type of item to be recorded which can then be categorised

  The team of researchers must be applying the criteria same way this is achieved training and standardisation
• What is a strength of content analysis related to ecological validity?

  It is based on real media data
• Why does content analysis have high external validity?

  It uses current and relevant data
• What makes content analysis reliable?

  It involves indirect observations
• How can findings from content analysis be replicated?

  Sources can be retained and accessed
• What does content analysis maintain regarding participant confidentiality?

  It collects data from sources, not participants
• What is a potential issue with protection from harm in content analysis?

  There is unlikely to be a breach
• How can content analysis be useful over time?

  It offers fresh interpretations of existing data
• What are the strengths of content analysis?

  • High ecological validity from real media
  • High external validity due to current relevance
  • Reliable through indirect observations
  • Maintains confidentiality of sources
  • Useful for fresh interpretations over time
• what are the weaknesses of content analysis?

  Researcher bias which reduces internal validity

  Likely to be cultured dependent this means that content analysis are likely to be ethnocentric reducing the generalisability of findings and lacking external validity

  Limited use because they only describe what is that but don’t reveal under lying motives

  Practical issues, they may be limited by the availability of material

  Validity issues the media might not reflect reality so they can be advised towards