Content analysis

Question 1

What is content analysis

Answer 1

Content analysis is an indirect method of observation that analyses human behavior by investigating human artefacts (what people make) e.g a researcher conducts a content analysis on 1950s advertisements
-Content analysis is usually carried out on qualitative data and then transformed into quantitative data

Question 2

How is content analysis carried out

Answer 2

1. Decide a research question
2. Select a sample (this can be done randomly or systematically) e.g a children’s book or a diary entry
3. Decide on categories to record e.g occurrences of particular words, this should be based on the research question
4. The researcher should read through the sample and tally the number of times the pre-determined categories appear
5. Data analysis can be carried out on the quantitative data to look for patterns
   -The categories should be operationalised, meaning they are as clearly defined as possible and not subject to interpretation

Question 3

How to test content analysis

Answer 3

-Test-retest reliability: This is when researchers run the content analysis again on the same sample and compare the two sets of data
-Inter-rater reliability: This is when two researchers run the content analysis on the same sample and with the same categories- they then compare their independently produced sets of data
-They should then use a test of correlation such as Spearman’s rho or Pearson’s - if the correlation coefficient is 0.8 or stronger then it is generally accepted that there is a strong correlation

Question 4

Advantages of content analysis

Answer 4

-The “artefacts” used in content analysis are often taken from the real world; meaning that content analysis has high external validity and should be generalisable to other real-world situations
-Since the “artefacts” are often taken from the real world, the sample is often easy to collect for content analysis
-The content analysis is easy to replicate when using the same sample and the same categories/coding units

Question 5

Disadvantages of content analysis

Answer 5

-In content analysis a researcher often has to interpret subjective text, this can lead to researcher bias, where the researcher interprets the text in a way that confirms their research hypothesis
-Since the “artefacts” used in the content analysis was not created for research purposes in controlled conditions, it may lack validity
-For example an 1800s diary entry may contain historical inaccuracies

Question 6

Thematic analysis

Answer 6

-Thematic analysis is when researchers attempt to identify the deeper meaning of the text by reading it, allowing themes to emerge
-It is important when conducting thematic analysis that the themes are not pre-determined and that they emerge from the text

Question 7

Thematic analysis process

Answer 7

-Collect the text/convert the record to transcript (write it down)
-Read the text to spot patterns that can be coded
-Re read the text/ codes, looking for emergent themes

Question 8

Thematic analysis advantages

Answer 8

-As theories come after the discovery of themes, it can be argued that thematic analysis prevents the researcher from imposing their own bias on the analysis and only seeing what they want to see
-High external validity
-Easy to get a sample
-Easy to replicate

Question 9

Thematic analysis disadvantages

Answer 9

-Subjective interpretation can lead to researcher bias
-Sample not created in controlled conditions