a form of indirect observation, not observing people directly but observing the content they produce (books, tv programmes etc..) content analysed in systematic way so conclusions can be made
decisions made before analysing are...
sampling method - what material sampled? frequency of sampling?
method of research data - use of behavioural categories? coding systems?
method of representing data - quantitative/qualitative?
why conduct content analysis?
determine presence of certain words, themes, or concepts within source of data
provide valuable insight into cultural and/or societal trends overtime
allows researcher to take qualitative data & transform into quantitative data
strengths
indirect observations of ppl real-life behaviour = data has inc mundane realism = inc eco validity
any source used in content analysis kept = repeat study (standardised procedures) - inc ext reliability of findings
weaknesses
observer bias = affect findings. subjective = interpretations/meaning of categories may vary = low internal validity & reliability
if categories used poorly constructed = misunderstand by observer = low internal validity
