Content analysis (Holsti) Content analysis is any technique for making inferences by systematically and objectively identifying specified characteristics of messages. 4/22/2017

Uses of Content Analysis Describe Communications Content Tests Hypotheses of Message Characteristics Compare Media Content to ‘Real World’ Assess Images of Groups in Society

content analysis which has sometimes been defined as the drawing of inferences on the basis of appearance or non appearance of attributes in messages. Used a lot in applied social science. i.e. predicting enemy moves according to past action. 4/22/2017

Quantitative content analysis gives strict enumeration of the content examined.. Very rigorous...Used perhaps to examine news values among gatekeepers. 4/22/2017

Content Analysis Various types of content design Characteristics of communication 1. Trends...To describe trends in content...Gerbners violence profile.. 2. To relate known characteristics of sources to the messages they produce....comparing conversationally styles of men and women 3. To audit communication content against standards ....comparisons of different media 4. To analyze techniques of persuasion...propaganda studies 5. To analyze style...nuances of messages..word counts...alliteration measures. 6. To relate known characteristics of the audience to messages produced for them...messages spoken to spouse vs strangers 7. To describe patterns of communication....look at interactions and look at dialogue and patterns of interaction throughout interaction...i.e. the marriage fight we saw 4/22/2017

Content analysis To make inferences as to the antecedents of communication (encoding)   1. To secure political and military intelligence...looking at documents to determine what foreign leaders might do. 2. To analyze psychological traits of individuals. based on written word..cognitive complexity of person... the little game we played in class. What was it called?__________ 3. To infer aspects of culture and cultural change...Violence profile. 4. To provide legal evidence...ex WWII based on writing content ..Lasswell used..did content analysis and asked to testify on war crimes. 5. To answer questions of disputed authorship....identify author of something...ie..federalist papers. 4/22/2017

Content analysis To make inferences as to the effects of communication (decoding) 1. To measure readability... look at content itself...how readable/ 2. To analyze the flow of information....groups that reach and don't reach consensus... ie. analyze whether first and third world press get same coverage in international news agencies... 3. To assess responses to communication....success of political ads...make inferences based on analysis of commercials..ie. negative ads 4/22/2017

Steps in Conducting CA … Select Topic Formulate Research Questions or Hypotheses Define the Population that’s being studied Select an Appropriate Sample from Population Construct Categories of Content to be Analyzed mutually exclusive & exhaustive …RQs help define categories Establish Quantification System … unit of analysis Train Coders & Conduct a Pilot Study … reliabile and intercoder reliability Code content according to established definitions Analyze Data Draw conclusions and search for indications

How do you do a content analysis? As with any study you must identify what you wish to measure and the purpose of the study. You must determine whether you want to describe the attributes of a message, make inferences about the content by asking who or why and by making inferences about the effects of messages. Once you have identified what you want to measure, you may then proceed with preparing to conduct the content analysis. 4/22/2017

Content Analysis To do a content analysis Content analysis stands or falls by its categories. Ask how is the research problem defined in terms of categories? ie. subject matter..direction...origin..target...etc Definitions of categories requires that they actually represent the elements of the investigators theory...: matter..direction...origin..target...etc Definitions of categories requires that they actually represent the elements of the investigators theory...: that they be exhaustive, to ensure that every item relevant to the study can be classified: and that they be mutually exclusive so that no item can be scored more than once within a category set. To insure results which are replicable, the investigator must specify explicitly the indicators that determine which unites fall into each category. 4/22/2017

Content Analysis To do a content analysis Content analysis stands or falls by its categories. that they be exhaustive, to ensure that every item relevant to the study can be classified: and that they be mutually exclusive so that no item can be scored more than once within a category set. 4/22/2017

Content Analysis To do a content analysis Content analysis stands or falls by its categories. To insure results which are replicable, the investigator must specify explicitly the indicators that determine which units fall into each category. Define categories by characterizing their major properties. 4/22/2017

Content Analysis Procedures for content analysis 1. Select a topic 2. Decide sample 3. Define concepts or unites to be counted 4. Construct categories 5. Create coding form 6. Train coders 7. Collect data 4/22/2017

Content Analysis Procedures for content analysis 8. Measure intercoder reliability 9. Analyze data 10. Report results 4/22/2017

What unit of content is to be classified? Units of Analysis TV show, movies, websites, press releases What is your context unit? Type of newspaper, type of genre, network What are your recording units? Frames in a film, five minute increments of a tv show, Syntactic units…sentences, subjects, verb, adjectives ? You must identify the units of analysis...What will your sampling units be? Identify the universe from which you will select samples. i.e. tv show..prime evening news program...what. Movie, websites Next identify your recording unit...here you are breaking sample into proportion of sampling unit you wish to analyze. Various recording unites include..physical unit...ie frames in film..pages in paper....; syntactic unit...sentence, subject, verb or thought...; referential...key words...ie. abortion; propositional...contains 2 or more elements; thematic...occurrence of a particular theme. You must then determine your context unit page 648 holsti The context in which recording unit appears....ie page..story..type of newspaper Recording units are then placed into appropriate categories....ie state local and international news. Sometimes you will construct your own categories. i.e. Bales interaction process analysis...would already have categories constructed. 4/22/2017

Enumeration Now you must deal with the system of enumeration.... The recording unit and the unit of enumeration may be the same... quantification of identified unites. 1. time/space ..ie column inches... 2. appearance...occurrence or nonoccurrence of an attribute 3. frequency....how many times does unit appear 4. intensity....how strong or weak is the occurrence. ie. uses of words such as declare, said, urged..etc 4/22/2017

Limitations … EX POST FACTO RESEARCH Can’t show cause & effect Requires Coding Instructions DEALS WITH NUMBERS COUNTING & DEFINITIONS Categorization is Important To compare one study with another one must use same categorizations Lots of Numbers Lots of Data to Work With Can Take Considerable Time SAMPLING IMPORTANT Time Periods Often Require Multi-Stage Sampling Look for Systemizations in the Data Direct Observation We Do Not Know Why Something Was Done or Wasn’t Done … See If Procedure Works … What is the BASIC CODING UNIT that is being used … that Helps Define the Sample