Content analysis and case studies

• What is content analysis?

  Form of observational research where people are studied indirectly via the communications they produced.
• What are some communications produced by participants?

  Spoken interaction, written forms or broader examples from the media.
• What is the aim of content analysis?


  Summarise and describe the communication in a systematic way to draw overall conclusions.
• What are the two forms of content analysis?

  Coding and thematic analysis.
• What content analysis is used for quantitative data?


  Coding
• What content analysis is used for qualitative data?


  Thematic analysis
• What is meant by coding?

  The stage of content analysis in which large data sets of information are categorised into meaningful units.
• What is an example of coding?

  Counting the number of times a particular word appears in a text.
• Coding typically produces quantitative data.
• Thematic analysis typically produces qualitative data.
• What is meant by thematic analysis?

  An approach to content analysis that involves identifying explicit or implicit ideas that are recurrent - themes.
• Themes often emerge once the data has been coded.
• How do researcher's check the validity of the themes they identified?


  Collect a new data set and check if the themes explain the new data adequately.
• What is meant by a theme?

  An idea, implicit or explicit, that is recurrent in a data set or piece of communication.
• Case study: In-depth investigation, description and analysis of a single individual, group, institution or event.
• Case studies often investigate unusual events, such as a person with a rare disorder or particular sequence of events.
• Case studies can also concentrate on more 'typical' cases.
• Case studies usually produce qualitative data.
• Researchers construct a case history using interviews, questionnaires, observations etc.
• The use of psychological or experimental testing can produce quantitative data in case studies.
• Case studies are often longitudinal and can involve gathering data from family and friends of the individual.
• What are two strengths of case studies?

  • Offer rich, detailed insights into typical and atypical behaviour.
  • Generate hypotheses for future study, can contradict existing theories.
• What are two limitations of case studies?

  • Prone to researcher bias.
  • Often lack generalisability due to limited sample sizes.
• What are two strengths of content analysis?

  • Less invasive so fewer ethical issues, often analysing existing material or material high in external validity.
  • Flexible, can produce qualitative or quantitative data depending on aims of research.
• What are two limitations of content analysis?

  • As communication is analysed outside of context it occurred, risk of researcher bias during interpretation.
  • Lack objectivity, especially in more descriptive thematic analyses.
• Content analysis is a type of observational research.
• Coding means to categorise information into meaningful units.