Content analysis

Question 1

what is content analysis

Answer 1

• it’s a kind of observational study in which behaviour is observed indirectly in written or verbal material such as interviews, books, diaries or TV programmes
• this may be quantitative, in which the frequency of particular behavioural categories are counted, or qualitative in which examples of the behavioural categories are recorded

Question 2

what type of artefacts can a content analysis be carried out on

Answer 2

• verbal and written material
• e.g. book, film, interview, questionnaire….

Question 3

describe the process conducted in a content analysis

Answer 3

• decide which sample of material to select for analysis (what type + quantity + how long for)
• choose the sampling procedure (either event or time sampling)
• develop a method of recording data (deciding operationalised behavioural categories)
• carryout the content analysis (Quantitative analysis (ticking off instances of behaviour) or Qualitative analysis (describe examples in each category))

Question 4

What is a problem that might occur if more than one researcher is carrying out the content analysis

Answer 4

• observation is subjective, therefore researchers may disagree on what happened due to bias
• this creates low inter-rater reliability

Question 5

What can be done to ensure that content analysis has a high inter-rater reliability

Answer 5

• operationalise behavioural categories
• train researchers discussing the behavioural categories and what they need to see in order to tick them off and also carry out a pilot study on a sample of artefacts and check if they’re in agreement

Question 6

What is the strength of content analysis in terms of reliability

Answer 6

• when resources can be rated or assessed by others (e.g. back copies of magazines or videos of people giving speeches) findings can be replicated

Question 7

What is the strength of content analysis in terms of validity

Answer 7

• high ecological validity because it is based on observations of what people actually do: real communications which are current and relevant, such as newspapers or children’s books in print

Question 8

What is the weakness of content analysis in terms of reliability and validity

Answer 8

Observer bias reduces objectivity and validity of findings because different observers may interpret the meaning of behavioural categories differently