08 Qualitative Methods - Content Analysis Flashcards
Questions on: Drewski, Daniel (2015): “Has there been a European Public Discourse on the Euro
Crisis? A Content Analysis of German and Spanish Newspaper Editorials”. Javnost – The Public 22(3):
264-282.
(1) Read the introduction: What is the research question?
(2) Now jump the to section “Conclusion: The European Union’s North-South Divide”. What are the
most important findings of the paper?
(4.1) What material does the author use, and how does he justify his material selection?
(4.2) What is the period of analysis, and how does the author justify this selection?
(1) “In this article I test whether there has been a cross-border European public discourse on the Euro
crisis as a precondition for the democratic deepening of the EU”
(2)The evidence gathered from the systematic content analysis of the main issues, frames and policy
opinions in the sampled editorials strongly suggests that a European public discourse on the Euro
crisis has not emerged. Rather, the member states have retained their “discursive monopoly” on
European affairs, just as the national governments have spearheaded the political management of
the Euro crisis. The Euro crisis does not seem to have brought to light a European community of
communication that paves the way for more democratic integration of the EU. Instead, despite
converging around a common set of topics, the Spanish and the German public discourses on the
Euro crisis each showed characteristic features that can be traced back to each country’s position on
the north–south divide between creditor and debtor countries within the Eurozone.
(4.1) Unlike conventional public discourse research, I do not analyse the news coverage in quality
newspapers, but their editorials. Through editorials, newspapers act as political agents in the public
sphere, reflecting the major partisan positions in a particular country (Eilders, Neidhardt, and Pfetsch
2004). Written by influential journalists, they select note worthy issues from the daily stream of
events, frame them and offer an opinion. The edi torials published in high-circulation quality
newspapers can significantly shape the agenda-setting and opinion-making process in the public
sphere. I chose to analyse them as a rough indicator for the most important issues, frames of
reference and opinions present in the public discourse at a certain time. Mainly the most visible
opinion pieces published on the first page or on a separate opinions page of centre-left and centreright
German and Spanish newspapers.
(4.2) The period of analysis includes 24 weeks from 7 December 2009 to 23 May 2010 and 11 weeks from
21 May 2012 to 5 August 2012. These two periods represent the beginning and the peak of the crisis
respectively. The first period of analysis kicks off with Prime Min ister Georgios Papandreous’
revelation of Greece’s adjusted public deficit figures and ends with the Euro summit’s decision to set
up a European bailout fund. This period covers the beginning of the Euro crisis, when the Greek debt
crisis threatened to contaminate the Euro zone as a whole. The second period of analysis begins with
the discovery of large budget gaps in the Spanish bank Bankia and ends shortly after the European
Central Bank’s (ECB) seminal announcement to do “whatever it takes to save the Euro”. This period
represents the peak of the crisis, with a major European economy on the brink of collapse.
(4.3) How did the author develop the categories?
I have developed a system of categories for the issues, policy opinions and frames contained in eacheditorial. First, editorials can write about different things when they comment on the Euro crisis.Therefore, I have identified the main issues they address. However, the way an issue is specifiedpredetermines the degree of issue convergence; for example, it is more likely that editorialsconverge on the discussion of “the economy” versus the discussion of “Merkel’s economic policy”.Therefore, the single issues were aggregated within broader categories that refer to an issue’sgeographic scope; for example, issues referring to the impact of the Euro crisis in Greece versus theimpact of the Euro crisis in Spain. In that way, editorials converge when the issues they address havethe same geographic scope. For each article, I coded up to two different issues. Second, frames areunderstood as schemes of interpretation that help us perceive and evaluate the world around us(Goffman 1986). They originate in the ideologies and cultural traditions that have permeated societyover time (Gamson 1992). In communication, the framing of an issue promotes a “particular problemdefinition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation” (Entman1993, 52). Journalists can explicitly or implicitly frame their opinions in a particular way in order toprovoke a “cultural resonance” (Snow and Benford 1988). I have identified five issue-specific frames(i.e. frames that apply only to the Euro crisis). For each article, up to two different frames werecoded.6 Third, the policy opinions include the explicit endorsement or rejection of the measures tocombat the crisis. They result from the specific framing of an issue. The policy opinions will thereforebe related to their corresponding frames in the analysis that follows. All different policy opinionsgiven in an article were coded (up to five, but only once per opinion for each editorial).
Questions on: Heindl, Andreas (2015): “Inhaltsanalyse”. In: Achim Hildebrandt, Sebastian Jäckle, Frieder Wolf and Andreas Heindl (eds): Methodologie, Methoden, Forschungsdesign Ein Lehrbuch für fortgeschrittene Studierende der Politikwissenschaft. Springer VS.
(1) Read the “Introduction” and then go directly to section “12.1.2 Grundlagen der Inhaltsanalyse”. What is content analysis?
Content analysis assumes that a research object (can be real, but also values, norms, numbers etc.) can be directly or indirectly observed and gathered as data e.g. by measuring or interpreting. Content analysis is based on a systematic and comprehensible approach, aimed at examining formal and substantial features of communication and the inference of issues external to communication.
(2) Return to section 12.1.: What are the main differences between the quantitative and qualitative content analysis?
The main issue is based on how the data should be analysed in order to generate a scientific result. In quantitative content analyses, the data is gather by using extensive data samples or sometimes the full data set. In qualitative content analyses, the data is not necessarily gathered based on statistical criteria but usually on principles of theoretic sampling, which aims to not achieve a statistical representation but a sensible selection of relevant data. Therefore, small samples are often sufficient to examine. However, due to the larger data set and the standardised approach, quantitative content analysis is able to lead to a more general result. Furthermore, quantitative content analysis is usually based on the examination of general links while qualitative is rather more complex and individual.
(3) Section 12.2 describes how you should go about when you conduct a content analysis. Much of what is said in section 12.2.1 applies to research in general, so it is a good idea to carefully read this section.
(3.1) What different “Kodiereinheiten” are there, and how should one choose between them?
The data set that is to be analysed has to be determined, and it can be e.g. words, whole sentences, etc. The coding sets become indicators which are used to analyse the material and are used to test hypotheses and theories. Regarding reporting, there can be different coding sets such as “frequency” (how often), connotation (positive, negative, neutral). Furthermore, combinations of words can also become indicators. It is important to consider the resources if coding is used as e.g. it is often unnecessary to read a whole article to generate the data.
(3.2) What different choices are there for the sampling of the material?
Simple random sampling: aim is to generate a representative result by using a randomly selected data unit (e.g. newspapers).
Systematic random sampling: data units are selected randomly but they are taken e.g. in certain intervals (every xth element is considered).
Stratified random sampling: when features are distributed very differently, the heterogeneous whole can be split into homogeneous parts to minimise the dominance of the potentially over-represented features. Then, one can use a sample of each set.
Cluster sampling: the sampling is based on criteria that are determined by natural numbers such as days, numbers or edition of newspapers etc. So only the selected samples are considered
Stratified (random) sampling: different “layers” of approaches are used, such as based on sequences like out of random samples (simple or systematic like randomly selected issue of newspapers) or a combination of consciously selected sampling as well as stratified sampling.
(3.3) What important things should be kept in mind, when one is developing the categories?
The selection can be based on e.g. type of media (daily newspapers, weekly etc.), type of journalistic work (commentary e.g.) or the profile of the media (e.g. political orientation). Also, there is the possibility to use only data that would be related to the research question. And it is also based on the resources one has (time).
(5) What is a codebook?
A codebook is a set of rules the author uses to analyse his or her research object. It contains all relevant issues related to the research question and it also contains the definitions and operationalization of the categories. So if another person wants to test the research, the codebook is necessary. Furthermore, codebooks are very unique, it is likely there is no second copy of it.
(6) How can the reliability of the coding be assessed?
With a pretest. Or if additional researchers test the coding for comparative reasons.
What are inductive and deductive category developments?
Deductive Coding
Deductive coding is a top down approach where you start with a set of predetermined codes and then find excerpts that fit those codes.
Inductive Coding
Inductive coding is a bottom up approach where you start with no codes and develops codes as you analyze the dataset.
What is Content Analysis useful for?
It is a method that can be used when you wish to study text, transcribed
interviews, audio, video, pictures etc. For example:
Comparison of AfD and FPÖ press releases when it comes to their responses to the 2015 refugee crisis
Populist rhetoric in the speeches by Orbán and Johnson in their responses to the Covid 19 pandemic
Is Al Jazeera more diverse in the geographical coverage of news than CNN?
Studying the discourse of the Qatari Shura.
