Content analysis

Question 1

What is content analysis defined as?

Answer 1

’ the systematic observation, recording and interpretation of information’ - Breakwell, Smith & Wright 2012, p513

Question 2

Who defined content analysis?

Answer 2

Breakwell, Smith & Wright 2012, p513

Question 3

When using content analysis, it has both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, what do these entail?

Answer 3

-qualitative- textual data is developed in themes (or categories) which makes it possible to draw some interpretation of the results
-quantitative- calculating several instances within each theme to produce percentages of overalll responses in a tally chart

Question 4

What are the steps of content analysis?

Answer 4

1. Data familarization
2. Initial coding generation
3. Searching for themes based on initial coding
4. Review of themes
5. Theme definition and labelling
6. Tally chart

Question 5

In the steps of content analysis, what does data familarization entail?

Answer 5

-read and reread data until you feel familiar with it
- you can make initial notes in the margins

Question 6

In the steps of content analysis, what does initial coding generation entail?

Answer 6

• when you find interesting or important data in relation to the research question, need to give it a word or brief phrase that captures what is important about it
• word or brief phrase= code
• code facilitates the identification of concepts around which the data can be assembled into themes or patterns

Question 7

In the steps of content analysis, what does searching for themes based on initial coding entail?

Answer 7

• grouping codes together, based on patterns that are evident across them, is the first step towards searching for themes
  -themes are the broader patterns in your data that help you to organise meaning in relation to your research question

Question 8

In the steps of content analysis, what does review of themes entail?

Answer 8

• checking themes identified against original data to make sure they reflect data
• checking themes identified allow you to answer your research question

Question 9

In the steps of content analysis, what does theme definition and labelling entail?

Answer 9

• after reviewing your themes, provide a final label of theme(s) and ensure you can define what the theme is about

Question 10

In the steps of content analysis, what does tally chart entail?

Answer 10

Needs to display
- list of themes developed from previous steps
- number of times theme was mentioned across data
- frequency (percentage) of theme across data
- a quoted example of theme

Question 11

How do you calculate the frequency percentages of themes?

Answer 11

1. calculate total number of responses across all themes
2. take frequency of each theme in turn, divide it by total number of responses (calculate in step 1) and multiply by 100