Content Analysis - Theoretical Issues - Intro to Quantitative
- 1. Dr. Serena Carpenter Michigan State University
- 3. Systematic, objective, quantitative analysis of message characteristics (Neuendorf, 2002) Systematic and replicable examination of symbols of communication, which have been assigned numeric values according to valid measurement rules, and the analysis of relationships involving those values using statistical methods, in order to describe the communication, draw inferences about its meaning, or infer from the communication to its context, both of production and consumption (Riffe, Lacy, & Fico, 1998).
- 4. To identify communication trends To describe characteristics of messages To make inferences of the producers of content To make inferences about content audiences To determine attitudes, interests and values
- 5. 1) Formulate hypotheses and research questions 2) Select a sample and sampling frame a) Unit of analysis? 3) Identify time frame 4) Define content categories 5) Training coders a. Pilot coding 6) Analyze and interpret data
- 6. Verbal (e.g., types of jokes told by comedians) Nonverbal (e.g., incidence of facial expressions during conversations) Mediated (e.g., portrayal of global warming in magazines)
- 7. Reduction of complex set of attributes while not distorting the phenomena
- 9. Code sheet Variable labels Indicators (Assigned numbers) Coding protocol Instructions to the coders on how to delineate indicators Frames ____1=Human interest _____ 2=Conflict ____3= Moral _____ 4=Economic _____5 = Other
- 10. Face validity Constructs tap into the assumptions of the investigator’s theory Criterion validity Predicted relationships
- 11. Consensus that the measures are what they are intending to measure regardless of who does the analysis or when it is done under similar conditions Intercoder reliability? Replicability?
- 12. Computer Cost effective Reliable Software Quantitative or qualitative? How complex an analysis can it perform? Can it run on languages other than English? Is the code base (or dictionary) proprietary? Is there an established user base? Does it only run on Windows? Hand More valid
- 13. Sampling frame Data collection Unit of analysis
- 14. Aging portrayals in mag ads – develop a code sheet and coding protocol Content analyze (People, Good Housekeeping, Woman’s Day) Examine the ads according to the product advertised (health, beauty, financial, etc.), product, sex, age group, valence, and any other related variables Create a code sheet and protocol
- 15. Measures & Concepts: Find an article that uses at least two of the variables explored in your final project. Critique the conceptualization and operationalization of the measures. Content analysis critique in a study related to your topic Due 3/14
Editor's Notes
- #3: Producer meaning -- Ask the author what was meant… not always possible. Interpreter of text. Producer are government, organizations, parties. Unobtrusive technique Observations may distort the data…. Usually do not need IRB approval unless content analyzing focus group data.
- #4: Frequency of occurrences of given characteristics – measuring the amount of somethingFastest growing technique over the past few decades…really began in the 1980s… but believe that it began around 1948. First one was in 1893Quant content analysis Assignment of rules to objects or eventsReplicability is the most important form of relaibility
- #5: Antecedent conditions to communicatThere is an assumption that communication can have profound effects on the masses…
- #6: View Kimssheet A set of information used to identify a sample population for statistical treatment. List of online sites, use search engines to identify sites. Sample enough issues to achieve an acceptable estimate of unknown population parametersConstructed week, defend time frameLarge enough sample sizes available to make generalizationsVerified by another investigator… at least two codersAgain… what was the first definition? Message. Message characteristics. It usually is a person in communication research – article, press release, website, comment, music lyrics, commercial;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;Poorly executed coding scheme, poor coder training, coder fatigue, rogue coder
- #8: OperationalizationLatent variable
- #9: Constructs to assess human interaction… empirical translation of theoretical meaningful categories
- #10: Can there be more than one frame in a story or do you instruct the author to select only one frame? How would you rewrite this variable for the coding sheet for data analysis purposes? Human interest 1 0
- #11: There are two types of validity necessary for a valid coding scheme You are saying the you expect a relationship between what and what… and do your measures reflect that logic… and does your construction of measures tap into the labels. Remember that you are the interpreter…. And you interpreter the messenger accuratelyVariables should relate to the interactions iwthin the coding scheme… if the relationships hold…. Then there is evidence for construct validity
- #12: The concept of intersubjectivity is an important component of theory constructionTo check if under different conditions you will get the same results.
- #13: Coding large volumes is very labor intensive, time consuming, tiresome, Communication is about beliefs, views, attitudes, values…. And coder tries to discover what those are…. http://bama.ua.edu/~wevans/content/csoftware/software_menu.htmlhttp://www.content-analysis.de/software/quantitative-analysis
- #14: Obstacles
- #15: Not surprisingly, we find that older people are absent from magazine ads targeting young people and, if present, are negatively portrayed. Also, images of older people are overwhelmingly positive in magazines targeting older audiences.Have the class come to a general consensus on what ages constitute child, young adult, etc. Students tend to perceive young adult as late teens to mid-20s and older adult as late 20s to 40s.