Content Analysis

• Content Analysis

  Studying people indirectly through communications e.g emails, diary entries to produe quantitative data.(qualitative -> quantitative)
• carrying out thematic analysis

  • use the [example] to make a transcription of the interview use coding to initially analyse the transcripts
  • review the transcriptions/codes looking for emergent themes/ideas that might be linked to later behaviour [use examples]
• carrying out content analysis

  • Create a checklist / categories
  • Relevant examples of behaviours e.g aggression, crying
  • Read through the diaries / reports/ videos
  • Counting behaviours or tallying

  Compare before and after
• thematic analysis

  To analyse communications o see what themes keep on popping up. This produces qualittative data
• strengths of content analysis

  • offers method to analyse a variety of forms of data and self report methods
  • material is already in publc domain, no issue with consent and strong external reliability (high mundane realism)
  • easy replication
• limitations of content analysis

  • observer bias is presented but can be eliminated using inter-observer reliability
  • content choice to analyse can be biased by researcher
  • interpreative bias - the rsearcher may ignore some things and pay extra attention to others