Content analysis

define content analysis

A research technique that enables the indirect study of behaviour by examining the communications that other people produce

define coding

The stage of content analysis in which the communication to be studied is analysed by identifying each instance of the chosen categories

define thematic analysis

An inductive & qualitative approach to analysis that involves identifying implic/explicit ideas within data

what is the aim of content analysis?

to summarise and describe this communication in a systematic way so overall conclusions can be drawn

what are the stages of content analysis?

1. data is collected

2. Researcher reads through/examined data

3. Identifies coding units

4. Data is analysed by applying coding units

5. Tally is made of the number of time a coding unit occours

why is coding necessary?

Some of the data sets to be analysed may be extremely large and so there is a need to categorise this information into meaningful units

coding may involve…

counting up the number of times a particular work or phrase appears in the text to produce a form of quantitative data

how can the reliability of content analysis be investigated?

inter-rater reliability

explain the strength can circumnavigate ethical issues normally associated with psychological research

much of the material that an analyst might want to study already exists within the public domain thus there are no issues with abstaining permission. This is a more ethical way of studying human behaviour than over methods of investigations

explain the strength high internal validity

as much of the material that an analyst might want to study already exist within a public domain, the data collected is likely have high external validity accurately representing real world human behaviour. Content analysis may be a more favoured form of investigation due to its guarantee of high ecological validity

explain the weakness content analysis studies people indirectly

the communications that they produce are outside of the context in which it occurred. There is a danger that the researcher may attribute opinions & motivations to the person/group being studied that were not intended originally. This questions as to the accuracy of conclusions drawn from content analysis - are liable to being influenced by subjective interpretations & suffers from a lack of objectivity