content analysis

• content analysis 


  is an observational technique with qualitative data involving studying people indirectly in a range of formats

  researchers must familiarise themselves with the data before conducting any analysis

  it is very helpful when conducting research that would be unethical
• coding in content analysis

  involves the researcher developing categories for the data to be classified, it can be helpful in reaching conclusions about the data, the categorise provide a framework to convert qualitative into quantitative data
• process of coding 


  1)identify hypothesis that you will investigate

  2)create a coding system depending on what you are investigating

  3)gather resources

  4)conduct content analysis and record data in a table

  5)analyse data which is descriptive and qualitative using thematic analysis

  6)write up a report in the format of a scientific report
• content analysis strengths 


  strong external validity as the data is already in the real world so it has high mundane realism and is easy to replicate
• content analysis limitations 


  observer/interpretative bias as the researcher may ignore some things but pay more attention to others