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Introduction to Communication Research Dr. Michael Smilowitz James Madison University

Content Analysis . Content Analysis . Introduction to Communication Research Dr. Michael Smilowitz James Madison University. Introduction to Communication Research Dr. Michael Smilowitz James Madison University. What is it?.

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Introduction to Communication Research Dr. Michael Smilowitz James Madison University

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  1. Content Analysis Content Analysis Introduction to Communication Research Dr. Michael Smilowitz James Madison University • Introduction to Communication Research • Dr. Michael Smilowitz • James Madison University

  2. What is it? Content analysis refers to a set of procedures for describing a large amount of communication content by reducing the content into a set of characteristics.

  3. Advantages Content analysis is a valuable tool in communication studies: • Unobtrusive. • Can use predetermined categories or allow categories to emerge during the analysis. • Can allow the investigation of a large amount of content.

  4. What’s been done with content analysis? • Newspapers • Topics of news stories • Emotional tone of reporting • Political orientation of reporters • Health communication • Frosch (2005) analyzes the appeals in tv direct to consumer ads for prescription drugs. “Most ads (82%) made some factual claims and made rational arguments (86%) for product use, but few described condition causes (26%), risk factors (26%), or prevalence (25%). Emotional appeals were almost universal (95%).”

  5. What’s been done with content analysis? Televised political debates involving linguistic analysis, thematic analysis, rhetorical and argumentative analysis. Framing of issues such as immigration. Changes in advertising strategies during economic crises. Content of literature on the continuity plans of organizations.

  6. Three qualitative approaches From: Hsieh and Shannon (2012) Three Approaches to Qualitative Content Analysis All three approaches are used to interpret meaning from the content of text data and, hence, adhere to the naturalistic paradigm. Conventional content analysis: Coding categories are derived directly from the text data. Directed approach: Analysis starts with a theory or relevant research findings as guidance for initial codes. Summative content analysis: Involves counting and comparisons, usually of keywords or content, followed by the interpretation of the underlying context. . 

  7. a priori vs. emergent coding • a priori coding utilizes categories that have been established previously. Often a coding manual is available with rules for applying the categories. • Emergent codinguses categories that are created through examinations of the data. The steps to follow are outlined in Haney, Russell, Gulek, & Fierros(as cited by Stemler, 2001). 1. One or more people independently review the material and come up with a set of features that form a checklist. If only one person creates the categories and does all the coding, then a “reliability check” is done. A small portion of the material, usually less than 10%, is coded by two or more other individuals and checked for consistency. 2. If multiple coders, the coders first code a small portion to compare notes and reconcile any differences that show up on their initial checklists for the categories to be used in the coding. 3. After some percentage of the material is coded by two or more researchers, often 20%, the researchers compare their coding to check reliability . 95% agreement is suggested. If the level of reliability is not acceptable, then the researchers repeat the previous steps. Once the reliability has been established, the coding is applied on a large-scale basis.

  8. The steps • Text selection (census or sampling). • Determine the unit of analysis to be coded, such as speech acts, words, sentences, paragraphs, pages, themes, topics, etc. • Select an a priori coding scheme or develop content categories. • Code the data and test coder reliability. • Analyze the data.

  9. Computerized content analysis SWIFT Content Analysis Software SWIFT stands for Structured Word Identification and Frequency Table, an interactive, keyword-based program for analyzing multiple, short texts. This free program seems best suited to coding open ended text responses.  The Ethnograph v4.0Software for qualitative research and data analysis, facilitates the management and analysis of text based data such as transcripts of interviews, focus groups, field notes, diaries, meeting minutes, and other documents. According to the Ethnograph homepage it is the most widely used software for qualitative data analysis since 1985.

  10. Time To Wrap it UP!

  11. The best of all possibilities? Phenomenon being studied Quantitative Methods Qualitative Methods

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