Content Analysis Method and Examples

Content analysis is a research tool used to determine the presence of certain words, themes, or concepts within some given qualitative data (i.e. text). Using content analysis, researchers can quantify and analyze the presence, meanings and relationships of such certain words, themes, or concepts. As an example, researchers can evaluate language used within a

A Definition of Content Analysis

In content analysis, evaluators classify the key ideas in a written communication, such as a report, article, or film. Evaluators can do content analysis of video, film, and other forms of recorded information, but in this paper, we focus on analyzing words. Here is a formal definition of content analysis: it is a systematic

The Uses of Content Analysis

Here are several ways in which GAO evaluators have successfully used content analysis techniques. In Stars and Stripes: Inherent Conflicts Lead to Allegations of Military Censorship (GAO, 1988), GAO evaluators used content analysis to help assess issues of censorship, news management, and other influences on various editions of the military newspaper. Details of technique

Computerized Content Analysis

The increasing availability of written information on computer files, and the increasing number of computer programs to analyze text files, makes content analysis easier to do than ever before. Moreover, computerized programs can easily code textual data and combine them with quantitative data. The evaluator can then analyze both kinds of data with various

Some Advantages of Content Analysis

1. It Can Be Unobtrusive One problem with surveys and some experimental methods is that evaluators and their informants can interact during data collection in ways other than how they would “naturally” react. For example, a content analysis of the hearing transcripts might be more useful than interviews with federal officials about what took

Some Disadvantages of Content Analysis

Because content analysis is systematic, sufficient human resources must be committed to it and rigorously applied to it. This may mean, for some evaluation applications, that the benefits may not outweigh the cost of the resources. Moreover, while content analysis has safeguards against distortion of the evidence, evaluators must use judgment in coding the

How to Apply Content Analysis

GAO evaluators can use content analysis to articulate a program’s objectives, describe its activities, and determine its results. 1. Program Objectives Many evaluations characterize a program’s objectives. For example, evaluators might compare a program’s legislative objectives with those of the executive branch. To do this, they might gather written or tape-recorded information from the

Assignment Objectives of Content Analysis

GAO often expresses an assignment’s objectives in the form of three broad categories of evaluation question: descriptive, normative, or impact questions. (GAO, 1991c) In theory, content analysis can address all three categories. In practice, descriptive and normative questions are especially amenable to content analysis; program impact questions are less commonly answered through content analysis.

Data Available or to Be Collected for Content Analysis

Whether or not content analysis is appropriate depends on the nature of the information to be evaluated. The information can be anything written: an original document; a transcript of a speech, conversation, discussion, or oral answer to a question; or a verbal description of visual information, such as a film, video, or photograph. Documents

Kinds of Data Required for Content Analysis

In the early stages of an assignment, evaluators choose variables of interest. For the descriptive Stars and Stripes assignment, for example, important variables included the frequency of stories on selected issues, such as the Iran-contra affair and the presidential campaign; the percentage of stories from other sources, such as staff reporters, AP, UPI, and

Kinds of Analysis Required in Content Analysis

Considering data requirements goes hand in hand with analysis requirements. In many evaluations, the most important, or only, form of analysis may be a simple aggregation of quantitative data or a comparison of categorical variables. When the subject matter is textual and the evaluation questions lend themselves to numerical descriptions or comparisons, content analysis

Resources Needed in Content Analysis

In content analysis, evaluators must consider three principal types of resources: an analyst with the technical knowledge and experience to plan and direct the content analysis, personnel to do the coding, and computer capability to carry out the analysis. At least one member of the project team should know about content analysis and have

Defining the Variables in Content Analysis

The assignment’s evaluation questions lead directly to the relevant variables. In the Stars and Stripes example, we asked “To what extent does the content of news stories in Stars and Stripes indicate management or censorship of the news management?” In practice, however, defining a variable may be separated into two parts: conceptualizing the variable

Selecting Material for Analysis in Content Analysis

To select textual material to include in the content analysis, evaluators may find it easiest to think first about a population of documents. For some assignments, this population may already exist, as in the Stars and Stripes evaluation. For other assignments, evaluators have to collect data into a database. This happened when GAO evaluators

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Defining the Recording Unit for Content Analysis

Once evaluators have defined the variables and selected the textual material, their next major task is to define the recording units. A recording unit is the portion of text to which evaluators apply a category label. For example, the Stars and Stripes news story was the focus of analysis in that the evaluation objective

Developing an Analysis Plan in Content Analysis

Developing a plan for an analysis is the final planning step. It finks the data back to the evaluation question. Traditionally, most content analyses have focused on the presence of variables or their frequency, intensity, or identity by space or time. 1. The Presence of a Variable Analysis sometimes focuses on the mere presence

Creating Codes in Content Analysis

Codes are simply abbreviations, or tags, for segments of text. Before evaluators can code a document, they must first create a code for each variable’s categories. To minimize error, a code should be an abbreviated version of a category. In figure 4.1, for example, the variable is “attitude toward cost-sharing,” and it has three

Coding Options in Content Analysis

Textual material can be coded directly on the computer or it can be coded manually and transferred clerically to electronic media. With the latter option, a coder works with hard-copy documents and simply marks the passages with a pencil or colored marker. Training requirements are minimal.2 Some content analysis software programs make it relatively

Coder Selection and Training in Content Analysis

Coding is generally quicker and more accurate and credible the more expertise coders have in the subject of the material being analyzed. For example, in coding documents pertaining to Medicare claims, the coder’s knowledge of medical terminology and practices would probably be useful. Coders are trained to accurately apply the codes in training sessions

The Potential for Coding Error in Content Analysis

The four interrelated potential sources of coding inaccuracy in most applications of content analysis are (1) deficiencies in the documents, (2) ambiguity in the judgment process, (3) coder bias, and (4) coder error. (Orwin, 1994) For example, a poorly written document may lead to a coder’s making ambiguous decisions, or ambiguity in the judgment