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Content Analysis Dr. Mahvash Salsali Dr. Neda Mehrdad Dr. Effat M.Khoie. Agenda. Rational for doing content analysis; Description of content analysis; Process of content analysis (data gathering, management of data, analysis) Conclusion. Philosophical roots. Idealist Constructivists.
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Content AnalysisDr. MahvashSalsaliDr. NedaMehrdadDr. EffatM.Khoie
Agenda • Rational for doing content analysis; • Description of content analysis; • Process of content analysis (data gathering, management of data, analysis) • Conclusion
Philosophical roots • Idealist • Constructivists
What is Content analysis? • Content analysis is a systematic coding and categorizing approach which you can use to explore large amount of textual information in order to ascertain the trends and patterns of words used, their frequency, their relationships and the structures and discourses of communication (Grbich2007).
What is Content Analysis… • Content analysis is a research method that has come into wide use in health studies in recent years; • Qualitative content analysis is one of numerous research methods used to analyze text data; • Content analysis focuses on the characteristics of language as communication with attention to the content or contextual meaning of the text (Fang Hsieh & Shannon, 2005).
What is Content Analysis… • An approach of empirical, methodological controlled analysis of texts within their context of communication, following content analytic rules and step by step models, without rash quantification (Mayring, 2000).
What is Content Analysis… • Content analysis is any qualitative data reduction and sense-making effort that takes a volume of qualitative material and attempts to identify core consistencies and meanings (Patton, 2002).
What is content analysis… • These definitions illustrate that qualitative content analysis emphasized an integrated view of speech/texts and their specific contexts; • Qualitative content analysis goes beyond merely counting words or extracting objective content from texts to examine meanings, themes, and patterns that may be manifest or latent in a particular text; • It allows researchers to understand social reality in a subjective but scientific manner (Zhang & Wildemuth, 1966).
Content Analysis • Inductive (grounding the examination of topics and themes, inference drawn from them); • Process often begin during the early stages of data collection (move back and forth between concept development and data collection; • Systematic and transparent procedures for processing data; • Prepare data, define the unit of analysis, develop categories and coding, test coding scheme, code all text, assess coding, draw conclusions, report methods and finding (Zhang & Wildemuth,1966).
Content Analysis • Content can include: words, pictures, symbols, meanings, ideas, themes, etc • Content analysisis a technique for gathering and analysing the content of text - i.e. anything that can be communicated • Source textscan include: books, newspaper or magazine articles, advertisements, television programs, films, videos, computer games, photographs, song lyrics, music videos, official documents, letters, diaries, books, clothing, speeches, etc
Content Analysis; application • Content analysis can be used to: • Reveal international or cultural differencesin communication content • Detect the existence of bias or propaganda in communication content • Identify the intentions, focus or communication trendsof an individual, group or institution • Measure attitudinal and behavioralresponses to communications
Example • Content analysis can be a powerful tool for determining authorship OR identity: • Mosteller and Wallace (1964) used Bayesian techniques based on word frequency to show that Madison was indeed the author of the Federalist papers • Foster (1996) used a more holistic approach in order to determine the identity of the anonymous author of the 1992 book Primary Colors
Questions for doing content analysis • Do you have sufficient documents to make this form of analysis? And which aspects of these documents are to be analyzed? • What sampling approach will be undertaken (random, cluster, stratified, or non-probability approach)? • What level of analysis will be undertaken and what particular concepts or situations will be coded for? • How will the protocol and/or your codes be generated? • What relationships between concepts, codes, and their contexts will be taken into account? • How reliable is the approach or protocol that you have decided on? (Grbich, 2007).
core questions • The core questions of content analysis: • "Who says what • to whom • why • to what extent • with what effect
Three Approaches Inductive vs. Deductive • Hsieh and Shannon (2005) discussed three approaches to qualitative content analysis, based on the degree of involvement of inductive reasoning.
Conventional Approach • The first is conventional qualitative content analysis, in which coding categories are derived directly and inductively from the raw data. • This is the approach used for grounded theory development.
Directed Approach • The second approach is directed content analysis, in which initial coding starts with a theory or relevant research findings. • Then, during data analysis, the researchers immerse themselves in the data and allow themes to emerge from the data. • The purpose of this approach usually is to validate or extend a conceptual framework or theory.
Summative Approach • The third approach is summative content analysis, which starts with the counting of words or manifest content, then extends the analysis to include latent meanings and themes. • This approach seems quantitative in the early stages, but its goal is to explore the usage of the words/indicators in an inductive manner.
Advantages • Can be applied to examine any written document, as well as pictures, videos, and situations; • Widelyused and understood; • Can help decipher trends in groups or individuals • It is inexpensive, and can be easily repeated if problem arise; • Useful for analyzing archival materials; • Establishing reliability is easy and straightforward
Advantages • It can simplify very large documentsinto enumerative information. • It can combine bothqualitative and quantitative approaches to look at both numbers and relationships between theses and the context. • It can identify intentions, attitudes and emotionsas well as reveal lines of propaganda, inequality and power. • It can analyze interactions from a distance (enumerative), providing a sense of objectivity.
Disadvantage • Content analysis is a purely descriptive method. It describes what is there, but may not reveal the underlying motives for the observed pattern (what but not why); • The analysis is limited by availability of materials; • Observed trends in media may not be an accurate reflection of reality.
Disadvantage • It can be criticized for being too positivist in orientation, particularly when only enumerative approaches are used. • It can end up focusing only on wordcounts, leaving no possibility of more detailed interpretations. • It can de-contextualize information. • It can often be a theoretical, withminimal interpretation, on the assumption that numbers say it all.
Types • Qualitative • Quantitative
Content analysis; elements 1- Unit of analysis. 2- Meaning unit: that is, the constellation of words or statements that relate to the same central meaning, has been referred to as a content unit or coding unit. 3- Reduction/Distillation/ Condensation
Content analysis 4- Condensed meaning unit. 5- Codes: Labelling a condensed meaning unit with a code allows the data to be thought about in new and different ways.
Content analysis 6- Categories: A category is a group of content that shares a commonality, which internally homogeneous and externally heterogeneous. 7- Subcategory: A category often includes a number of sub-categories or sub-subcategories at varying levels of abstraction. The sub-categories can be sorted and abstracted into a category or a category can be divided into sub-categories.
Content analysis 8- Theme: A recurring regularity developed within categories or cutting across categories. An aspect of the structure of experience’ and emphasises that a theme can not be an object or a thing. A theme can be seen as an expression of the latent content of the text.
Content analysis • Inductive • Deductive Note: the key feature of all content analysis is that the many words of the text are classified into much smaller content categories.
Inductive & deductive content analysis • It is recommended if there is not enough former knowledge about the phenomenon or if this knowledge is fragmented; • Deductive content analysis is used when the structure of analysis is operationalised on the basis of previous knowledge and the purpose of the study is theory testing;
Process of analysis • 1- Preparation (similar in both) • 2- Organising • 3- Reporting
Preparation phase • The preparation phase starts with selecting the unit of analysis. This can be a word or a theme. Deciding on what to analyse in what detail and sampling considerations are important factors before selecting the unit of analysis. • The most suitable unit of analysis is whole interviews or observational protocols that are large enough to be considered as a whole and small enough to be kept in mind as a context for meaning unit during the analysis process. • When starting the analysis the researcher must also decide whether to analyse only the manifest content or the latent content as well.
Preparation phase • Next in the analytic process, the researcher strives to make sense of the data and to learn ‘what is going on’, and obtain a sense of whole: who is telling? where is this happening? when did it happen? what is happening? why? • The aim is to become immersed in the data, which is why the written material is read through several times.
Inductive method Organising: • This process includes open coding, creating categories and abstraction. Open coding means that notes and headings are written in the text while reading it. • After this open coding, the lists of categories are grouped under higher order headings.
Inductive method • The aim of grouping data was to reduce the number of categories by collapsing those that are similar or dissimilar into broader higher order categories
Inductive method • Creating categories is not simply bringing together observations that are similar or related; instead, data are being classified as ‘belonging’ to a particular group and this implies a comparison between these data and other observations that do not belong to the same category. The purpose of creating categories is to provide a means of describing the phenomenon, to increase understanding and to generate knowledge.
Inductive method • When formulating categories by inductive content analysis, the researcher comes to a decision, through interpretation, as to which things to put in the same category. • Each category is named using content-characteristic words. Subcategories with similar events and incidents are grouped together as categories and categories are grouped as main categories.
Deductive method • Deductive content analysis is often used in cases where the researcher wishes to retest existing data in a new context. • This may also involve testing categories, concepts, models or hypotheses.
