Content analysis

About: Content analysis is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 3545 publications have been published within this topic receiving 78336 citations.

The Content Analysis Guidebook

Abstract: List of Boxes List of Tables and Figures Foreword Acknowledgments 1. Defining Content Analysis Is Content Analysis "Easy"? Is It Something That Anyone Can Do? A Six-Part Definition of Content Analysis 2. Milestones in the History of Content Analysis The Growing Popularity of Content Analysis Milestones of Content Analysis Research 3. Beyond Description: An Integrative Model of Content Analysis The Language of the Scientific Method How Content Analysis Is Done: Flowchart for the Typical Process of Content-Analysis Research Approaches to Content Analysis The Integrative Model of Content Analysis Evaluation With the Integrative Model of Content Analysis 4. Message Units and Sampling Units Defining the Population Archives Medium Management Sampling Sample Size 5. Variables and Predictions Identifying Critical Variables Hypotheses, Predictions, and Research Questions 6. Measurement Techniques Defining Measurement Validity, Reliability, Accuracy, and Precision Types of Validity Assessment Operationalization Computer Coding Selection of a Computer Text Content Analysis Program Human Coding Index Construction in Content Analysis 7. Reliability Intercoder Reliability Standards and Practices Issues in the Assessment of Reliability Pilot and Final Reliabilities Intercoder Reliability Coefficients: Issues and Comparisons Calculating Intercoder Reliability Coefficients Treatment of Variables That Do Not Achieve an Acceptable Level of Reliability The Use of Multiple Coders Advanced and Specialty Issues in Reliatbility Coefficient Selection 8. Results and Reporting Data Handling and Transformations Hypothesis Tesing Selecting the Appropriate Statistical Tests Frequencies Co-Occurences and In-Context Occurrences Time Lines Bivariate Relationships Multivariate Relationships 9. Contexts Psychometric Applications of Content Analysis Open-Ended Written and Pictorial Responses Linguistics and Semantic Networks Stylometrics and Computer Literary Analysis Interaction Analysis Other Interpersonal Behaviors Violence in the Media Gender Roles Minority Portrayals Advertising News Political Communication Web Analyses Other Applied Contexts Commercial and Other Client-Based Applications of Content Analysis Future Directions Resource 1: Message Archives - P.D. Skalski General Collections Film, Television and Radio Archives Literary and General Corpora Other Archives Resource 2: Using NEXIS for Text Acquisition for Content Analysis Resource 3: Computer Content Analysis Software - P.D. Skalski Part I. Quantitative Computer Text Analysis Programs Part II. VBPro How-To Guide and Executional Flowchart Resource 4: An Introduction to PRAM--A Program for Reliability Assessment With Multiple Coders Resource 5: The Content Analysis Guidebook Online Content Analysis Resources Bibliographies Message Archives and Corpora Reliability Human Coding Sample Materials Computer Content Analysis References Author Index Subject Index About the Authors

Content analysis: Method, applications, and issues

Abstract: Content analysis research methodology is detailed, its procedures are described, some examples of its application are provided, and the controversial issues surrounding its use are discussed. Unlike strictly qualitative designs, content analysis has external validity as a goal. Because of its focus on human communication, content analysis offers practical applicability, promise, and relevance for research involving the practice and education of nurses and other helping professionals.

Text as Data: The Promise and Pitfalls of Automatic Content Analysis Methods for Political Texts

Abstract: Politics and political conflict often occur in the written and spoken word. Scholars have long recognized this, but the massive costs of analyzing even moderately sized collections of texts have hindered their use in political science research. Here lies the promise of automated text analysis: it substantially reduces the costs of analyzing large collections of text. We provide a guide to this exciting new area of research and show how, in many instances, the methods have already obtained part of their promise. But there are pitfalls to using automated methods—they are no substitute for careful thought and close reading and require extensive and problem-specific validation. We survey a wide range of new methods, provide guidance on how to validate the output of the models, and clarify misconceptions and errors in the literature. To conclude, we argue that for automated text methods to become a standard tool for political scientists, methodologists must contribute new methods and new methods of validation. Language is the medium for politics and political conflict. Candidates debate and state policy positions during a campaign. Once elected, representatives write and debate legislation. After laws are passed, bureaucrats solicit comments before they issue regulations. Nations regularly negotiate and then sign peace treaties, with language that signals the motivations and relative power of the countries involved. News reports document the day-to-day affairs of international relations that provide a detailed picture of conflict and cooperation. Individual candidates and political parties articulate their views through party platforms and manifestos. Terrorist groups even reveal their preferences and goals through recruiting materials, magazines, and public statements. These examples, and many others throughout political science, show that to understand what politics is about we need to know what political actors are saying and writing. Recognizing that language is central to the study of politics is not new. To the contrary, scholars of politics have long recognized that much of politics is expressed in words. But scholars have struggled when using texts to make inferences about politics. The primary problem is volume: there are simply too many political texts. Rarely are scholars able to manually read all the texts in even moderately sized corpora. And hiring coders to manually read all documents is still very expensive. The result is that

Mass Communication Theory: An Introduction

Abstract: The major textbook in communication theory. Denis McQuail provides a brisk, elegantly organized, and comprehensive overview of the ways in which mass communication has been viewed by social scientists and by practitioners. The wealth of thinking in the field; the enormous range of issues studied and questions raised; the proliferation of schools, approaches and tendencies: McQuail marshalls this welter of material into a clear, easy to follow textbook for students at all levels of communication studies. He reviews: ways in which the the mass media have been defined theories of their function and purpose views of the organizational structures and processes of mass media content analysis and the other techniques for interpreting the meaning of media content theories of what an audience is and what it does Cultivation theory, traditional sociology, classical marxism, the Frankfurt school, 'hegemony' theory, Soviet media theory, the uses and gratifications approach, development media theory, free press theory, organizational theory -- all these and much more -- are described and placed in their historical and scholarly context. McQuail's extensive references will guide anyone interested in mass communication to the key work in the field. Diagrams, a Media Theory Map, summaries, indexes and other features will further help new students to keep a hold on all the separate strands in the field. About the author: Denis McQuail is currently Professor of Mass Communication, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. After graduating from Corpus Christi College, Oxford with a BA in Modern History and a Diploma in Public and Social Administration, he received a PhD in social studies from the University of Leeds. He has since been affiliated to the Television Research Unit, University of Leeds; the University of Southampton; and the Annenberg School of Communication, University of Pennsylvania. His major publications include: Television and the Political Image (with J Trenaman) 1961; Television in Politics: Its Use and Influence (with J G Blumler), 1968; Towards a Sociology of Mass Communications, 1968; Sociology of Mass Communication (editor) 1972; Communication, 1975; Review of Sociological Writing on the Press, 1976; Analysis of Newspaper Content, 1977; Communication Models for the Study of Mass Communication (with Sven Windahl), 1982. Why this textbook? Why choose this textbook for use in your courses over others that are available? McQuail has drawn on his own extensive teaching experience to make sure his book offers the following qualities and features: The frameworks: for ease of organization, McQuail arranges the theories of media effect processes, or mass media and social change in new, clarifying frameworks. He aims to present all the principal theories within a single integrative framework. Its range: McQuail's extraordinary feat of organization encompasses theories from all the principal approaches to communication from all over the world. His book will be useful in a variety of cultural and national settings. Its thoroughness: McQuail provides over 300 references to guide your students to the primary sources. Not only is each theory described, and its sources and histories plotted, but its implications and intellectual context are explored. Consensus theories are given equal weight with themore contentious, critical understandings. Controversy is faced, fairness maintained. Its currency: The most recent research is expressed in the form of theoretical propositions. New approaches are discussed that are not reviewed in other textbooks: a revision of the functional theory, the notion of emerging 'public definitions', and a revision of the 'four theories of the press'. Other unique features: A thorough review of theories of the audience. Questions of media power and normative theories of media are given a central place at various points. Professor Denis McQuail provides a thorough review of the history, structure, and processes of the mass media, and the views taken of them. The first chapter defines the terms and issues of mass media studies. It also traces the development of mass media since the first newspapers in the 17th century. McQuail notes the origins, typical forms, and applications of mass media at different times. He then provides a framework for understanding the different approaches to the study of mass media. Mass society theory, Marxist approaches of different types, message-centred theory, and theory of audience and effect are the perspectives reviewed. Chapter Three explores the ideological, political, and cultural contexts in which the mass media operates, and which define the media's functions. The institutional forms of mass communication are characterized in Chapter Four. In Chapter Five, the meaning of the information provided by the media is analyzed. Different kinds of content, such as news or fiction, are examined from different theoretical perspectives. Chapter Six describes alternative approaches to the study ofthe audience, the different aspects of audiences which they study, and the conclusions they have reached. Chapter Seven focusses on the study of the impact and effect of media. Different scientific approaches to this study are described, and the results of this research given. The final chapter looks at the lessons of mass communication study for issues of current concern such as international communication and new technological developments.