Content Analysis
Content Analysis
Content Analysis
 One type of unobtrusive research
 The analysis of social artifacts, usually communications
media
 Books, magazines, advertising, TV shows, movies,
URLs, legal statutes, paintings, photos, architecture, etc.
 Most appropriate for theories about communications,
norms, values
Content Analysis
Sampling in Content Analysis
 Units of Analysis
 Great flexibility in selecting
units of observation and
analysis
 Literature: Books, chapters,
pages, lines, or words
Content Analysis
 Units
of Analysis
 Great flexibility in selecting units of observation and analysis
 Literature: Books, chapters, pages, lines, or words
 Or, themes, plot, characters, tone, connotation, etc.
 Magazines: editions, articles, pages, text, photos, captions,
etc.
 URLs: pages, frames, sections, etc.
 TV shows: days, hours, segments, scenes, etc.
 People: authors, journalists, editors, publishers, artists, etc.
Content Analysis

Sampling

You must specifically define the sampling frame
 Authors… English? 20th century? Fiction? Horror?
 TV shows… Channel(s)? Days of the week? Hours of
the day?

2. Content Analysis
Content Analysis
 Sampling
You must specifically define the sampling frame
 Authors… English? 20th century? Fiction? Horror?
 TV shows… Channel(s)? Days of the week? Hours of the day?
 Use EPSEM unless it is necessary to use NPS
 It is very helpful to stratify and cluster sample;
 Stratify books by year; magazines by frequency of publication
 Cluster sample books by authors, magazines by publishers

Content Analysis

Sampling
Use EPSEM unless it is necessary to use NPS
 It is very helpful to stratify and cluster sample;
 Stratify books by year; magazines by frequency of
publication
 Cluster sample books by authors, magazines by
publishers
 You can use these techniques to sub-sample
 Selected chapters in selected books by an author

Content Analysis

Sampling
You can use these techniques to sub-sample
 Selected chapters in selected books by an author
 You can also sample multiple units of analysis
 Sample segments of TV shows AND commercials
 This allows one to link analysis of shows to commercials

Content Analysis
Coding in Content Analysis
 Coding
– classification or quantification of content
 Code editorials ordinally as “very liberal” ... to “very
conservative”
 “Manifest” and/or “latent” content may be coded…
 … content may be coded quantitatively or qualitatively
Content Analysis
Coding in Content Analysis
 Coding
– classification or quantification of content
 Code editorials ordinally as “very liberal” ... to “very
conservative”
 “Manifest” and/or “latent” content may be coded…
 … content may be coded quantitatively or qualitatively
 Manifest Content
Content Analysis
Coding in Content Analysis
 Manifest
Content
 Explicit or stated content
 Lends itself to quantitative coding and reliable measures
 Code quantitatively by counting the times a word or phrase is
used
 You can also conduct qualitative manifest coding
 Use nominal codes to categorize the connotation of words or
phrases
Content Analysis
Coding in Content Analysis
 Latent Content
Implicit content; unstated but underlying meaning
 Lends itself to qualitative coding and valid measures
 Code qualitatively by categorizing the meaning of passages
 You can also code quantitatively
 Use subjective scores to rate the degree of some quality in a
passage (1=lowest, 10=highest)

Content Analysis
Coding in Content Analysis
 Revising
Codes
 Coding in content analysis allows for dialogue between
theory & data
 You can use both deductive and inductive logics
 Begin with a theoretical question and key concepts…
 … but be ready to revise them as you code data
Content Analysis
Coding in Content Analysis
 Record Keeping

You must have a clear, consistent, justifiable coding system
 When counting, state what you’re including and excluding
 When categorizing, state the criteria for making your
distinctions
 Keep a codesheet with all of your codes
Content Analysis
Coding in Content Analysis
 Record Keeping
You must have a clear, consistent, justifiable coding system
 When counting, state what you’re including and excluding
 When categorizing, state the criteria for making your
distinctions
 Keep a codesheet with all of your codes
 If the units of observation and analysis differ, this must be
justified
 Codes refer to units observed; measures refer to units
analyzed

Content Analysis
Coding in Content Analysis
 Record Keeping


For counts, count the total units sample to derive a rate base
 If you count usage of a specific word, count the total words
sampled
 This allows calculation of rates (keywords / 1000 total
words)
 Rates facilitate comparisons to test theory
For qualitative analysis in content analysis, see the QLA notes
Content Analysis
Strengths and Weaknesses of Content Analysis
 Strengths
Very flexible units of analysis; lends itself to comparative
analysis
 Most media are cheap and easy to access
 Content analysis is easy to replicate

Content Analysis
Strengths and Weaknesses of Content Analysis
 Strengths
Very flexible units of analysis; lends itself to comparative
analysis
 Most media are cheap and easy to access
 Content analysis is easy to replicate
 Weaknesses
 Media must be recorded somehow to be subject to analysis
 Some social artifacts may be hard to review
