Seminar Topic on Content Analysis

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Seminar Topic on Content Analysis

• Venkatesha
• Research Scholar
• Under the Guidance
• Dr. Sarasvathy. P
• Senior Assistant Librarian

Department of Library and Information Science
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Introduction

• Content analysis is a set of procedures for
  collecting and organizing information in a
  standardized format that allows analysts to make
  inferences about the characteristics and meaning
  of written and other recorded material.
• Content analysis is a summarizing, quantitative
  analysis of messages that relies on the
  scientific method and is not limited as to the
  types of variables that may be measured or the
  context in which the messages are created or
  presented.

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Definitions

• According to Dr. Farooq Joubish, content analysis
  is considered a scholarly methodology in
  the humanities by which texts are studied as
  to authorship, authenticity, or meaning.
• According to Berelson Content analysis is a
  research technique for the objective, systematic
  and quantitative description of the manifest
  content of communication.

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Use of Content Analysis

• Detect the existence of ideas, Concepts and truth
  hidden in the texts.
• Identify the intentions, focus or communication
  trends of an individual, group or institution.
• Describe attitudinal and behavioral responses to
  communications.
• Determine psychological or emotional state of
  persons or groups.

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History of Content Analysis

• content analysis was already an often utilized
  research method by the 1940's. Although initially
  limited to studies that examined texts for the
  frequency of the occurrence of identified terms.
• the mid-1950's researchers were already starting
  to consider the need for more sophisticated
  methods of analysis.
• focusing on concepts rather than simply words,
  and on semantic relationships rather than just
  presence (de Sola Pool 1959). 
• content analysis now is also utilized to
  explore mental models, and their linguistic,
  affective, cognitive, social, cultural and
  historical significance.

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Types of Content Analysis

• Conceptual Analysis
• A concept is chosen for examination, and
  the analysis involves quantifying and tallying
  its presence. The focus here is on looking at the
  occurrence of selected terms within a text.
• 2. Relational Analysis
• It begins with the act of identifying concepts
  present in a given text or set to texts and
  seeks to go beyond presence by exploring the
  relations between the concepts identified.

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Issues of Reliability Validity

• Stability the tendency for coders to
  consistently re-code the same data in the same
  way over a period of time.
• Reproducibility tendency for a group of coders
  to classify categories membership in the same
  way.
• Accuracy the extent to which the classification
  of a text corresponds to a standard or norm
  statistically.
• The validity of categories in implicit
  concept analysis, in particular, is achieved by
  utilizing multiple classifiers to arrive at an
  agreed upon definition of the category.

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Advantages of Content Analysis

• Looks directly at communication via texts or
  transcripts, and hence gets at the central aspect
  of social interaction.
• Can allow for both quantitative and qualitative
  operations.
• Can provide valuable historical/cultural insights
  over time through analysis of texts.
• Allows closeness to text which can alternate
  between specific categories and relationships and
  also statistically analyzes the coded form of the
  text.
• 
  Cont.

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• 
  Cont.
• can be used to interpret texts for purposes such
  as the development of expert systems.
• is an unobtrusive means of analyzing
  interactions.
• provides insight into complex models of human
  thought and language use.
• when done well, is considered as a relatively
  "exact" research method.

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Disadvantages of Content Analysis

• Can be extremely time consuming.
• Is subject to increased error, particularly when
  relational analysis is used to attain a higher
  level of interpretation.
• Is inherently reductive, particularly when
  dealing with complex texts.
• Tends too often to simply consist of word counts.
• Can be difficult to automate or computerize.
• Often disregards the context that produced the
  text, as well as the state of things after the
  text is produced.

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Conclusion

• The method can be costly in that formulating
  categories that can be reliably coded, pre-
  paring coding instructions, and training and
  supervising coders can all be time consuming.
  Additionally, complex coding schemes, which
  usu- ally yield the most interesting
  findings, may produce the least reliable
  results because they entail a substantial
  element of coder judgment. Content analysis,
  therefore, requires rigorous reliability and
  validity checks if its results are to
  withstand critical scrutiny.

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References

• Berelson, Bernard.  Content Analysis in
  Communication Research. New York Free Press,
  1952.
• Budd, Richard. Content Analysis of
  Communications. New York Macmillan Company,
  1967.
• Busha, Charles H. and Stephen P.
  Harter.  Research Methods in Librarianship
  Techniques and Int
• de Sola Pool, Ithiel. Trends in Content Analysis.
  Urbana University of Illinois Press,
  1959.erpretation. New York Academic Press, 1980.

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• Carley, Kathleen. "Content Analysis." In R.E.
  Asher (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Language and
  Linguistics. Edinburgh Pergamon Press, 1990.
• Weber, Robert Philip. Basic Content Analysis,
  Second Edition. Newbury Park, CA Sage
  Publications, 1990.
• http//www.colostate.edu/Depts/WritingCenter/refer
  ences/research/content/page2.htm
• http//archive.gao.gov

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• Thank you