analysing qualitative data- NOT FINNISHED

what is content analysis

a method of quantifying qualititative data through inferectly observing the presence of certain words, images or concepts within the media and counting the number of times they occur.

what is an advantage of using content analysis

one strength of content analysis is that it should be relitively reliable. this is because content analysis as a method is easy to replicate through others using the same materials and examining the same sources. this is because the categories to look out for are already created before the investigation begins and therefore is objective. thus giving this method a strong chance of being reliable

what is a disadvantage of using content analysis

one weakness of content analysis is that it only collects numerical data. this means that it does not reveal underlying reasons for behaviour and attitudes but only that they exist. for example, knowing how many times men look for beauty but not what they look for. therefore, it may make it difficult to apply these findings to society as the data has limited use

what is a thematic analysis

it is a qualitative analytic method for identifying and reporting themes within given data, and are usually identified using coding. theamatic analysis organises, describes and interprets data

what is the process of a thematic analysis

1. familiarisation with the data: read the content

2. coding: decide what codes you will use to record

3. searching for themes: read back through after identifying key themes you want to find and use your code to annotate themes

4. reviewing themes: ensure themes are relevent after searching

5. defining and naming themes: identify clean and concise names for themes so they make sense at write up

6. writing up: write up a report of what this is showing

what is an advantage of using a thematic analysis

one strength of thematic analysis is that it looks for meanings and preserves the qualititative data. due to searching for qualititative themes in data it can provide a rich insight into why a behaviour occurs. this measn that the data is more sensitive than in content analysis