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Summary for Exam Research Workshop: Content Analysis
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In-depth summary for Content Analysis with revision from Methods of Communication Research and Statistics for Communication Science course at UvA.
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Content Analysis ExamMCRS
● Content Analysis- a research technique that aims to quantify the content in terms of
predetermined categories and in systematic and replicable manner
-Quantitative- count occurrences
-Systematic- count all relevant aspects of the sample
-Categorizes units of analysis
CONTENT and not EFFECTS
Unobtrusive → human participants not involved
Disadvantages:
- can address only questions of content
- can only be used for comparisons
- problems with external validity
-Use manifest variables to measure the frequency of something
1. Develop hypothesis or RQ: What forms of violence are most prominent in the popular
videogames of 2019?
2. Define content to be analyzed: All games ever published on any console or PC
3. Sample the content: PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360; use stratified sampling
- Unit of analysis: what content do you want to draw conclusions on
- Sampling unit
- Coding unit
- Context unit: how much ‘surrounding information’ do you take into account when making a
coding decision? : what is the reason for violence occurring in the content
4.Operationalizing variables: Variables are the ‘questions’ you ask the content, What is the name of the
video game?; for latent variables, we need definitions and indicators
- Criterium: Clarity, Mutually exclusive, answer categories are exhaustive
5. Develop coding scheme: The code book provides the rules of the coding game; Helps the coder to
assign correct values to each coding unit
6. Assign each occurrence of the unit in a sample to a code
Reliability: consistent coding;
- One coder: intra coder reliability (within)- Same content is coded at two different moments in
time (start and end);
- Multiple coders: intercoder reliability (between)-Different coders code the same content and
compare afterward; simple codes are more reliable and consistent(coding the same way from
beginning to end)coding from other coders improves reliability
,Increasing question Reliability→Consistency- To the extent that there is inconsistency across
respondents, random error is introduced, and the measurement is less precise (differences in answers
should be due to differences in characteristics between people)
- variables must be consistent
- level of control the researcher has over the environment (confounding variables)
- individual differences due to characteristics
Reliability of coding open-opinion→ quality of the question, quality of code, and training of coders
Validity- The extent to which the answer given is an accurate measure and means what the researcher
wants or expects it to mean
-Validity: suffers from simple codes
,Week 1
C.A→ (book) It is a research method- systematic assignment of communication content to categories
according to rules and the analysis of relationships involving those categories using statistical methods
- It is a social science approach - based on empirical observation and measurement (so empiricism
and not rationalism)
Reductionist view → understanding comes from reducing a phenomenon to smaller basic individual
parts
Vs
Holism → wholes can be more than or different from sum of individual parts
Content-Centered Model → content analysis is central to theory building about both communication
effects and processes
- Theory-building is not the only goal but also descriptive studies of content
Use of computational methods to complement human coding → algorithmic text analysis (ATA); an
application that assigns numeric values to attributes of media content based on programmed rules
C.A purpose and procedure draw on the social science approach to knowledge → a system of standards
and guidelines for generation relational statements that describe and explain human behaviors and
mental processes
1. A method of organizing and categorizing things (typology)
2. Predictions of future events
3. Explanation of past events
4. A sense of understanding about what causes events
5. The potential for control of events
, 3 characteristics of generating scientific knowledge that is consistent over time:
1. Abstraction → range of behaviors to which social science applies (applying agenda-setting
theory)
2. Intersubjectivity → scientists who study an area should agree on what a concept means and on
the validity of what the concept means
- Logical rigor - agreement on the use of the logic system
3. Empirical relevance → compare theoretical statements with objective empirical data; the
importance of replicating empirical results
Media visibility analysis → type of quantitative content analysis in which the visibility of a topic in one
or multiple media sources or environments is exposed over time
Content Analysis → method we use to study media content, analyze characteristics of registered content
of communication
- This is done in a quantitative manner (often not descriptive (for this course))
- In systematic → research requires generalizable empirical evidence, problem identification,
hypothesizing explanation, and testing explanation
Replicable → process of defining concepts in terms of actual measured variables
(operationalization) in transparent, and objective way
- Involves numeric values to represent measured differences in symbols
→ (book) Quantitative content analysis is the systematic and replicable examination of symbols of
communication that have been assigned numeric values according to valid measurement rules and
analysis of relationships involving those values, using statistical methods, to describe the communication
to its context both of production and consumption
Types of content: more manifest (easily observable) → denotative meaning - meaning most people share
and apply to given symbols
to more latent (harder to capture) → meaning given by individuals or smaller groups to symbols; but
always measurable and quantifiable
Founding fathers: Bernard Berelson, Ole Holsti, Klaus Krippendorf (introduction to methodology)
Content Analysis → a question of representation; to what extent are some things represented/visible in
the media (measuring visibility)
Importance of C.A:
- Is central to communication process
- Like a linchpin? That holds the process of communication together
Content is both:
- Cause (precondition; produces media effects)
- Outcome of media production and environmental factors (explained by all kinds of factors)
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