2.1 RM - Documents & Content Analysis

Question 1

What can documents be?

Answer 1

Written 
Photos 
Media 
Private 
Public 
Historical 
Maps 
Drawings

Question 2

What are practical strengths of documents?

Answer 2

• quick and cheap
• published ones are easily accessible
• no personal risk

Question 3

What are practical weaknesses of documents?

Answer 3

• only access published ones

* qualitative data is hard to analyse

Question 4

What are ethical strengths of documents?

Answer 4

No issues

Question 5

What are reliable strengths of documents?

Answer 5

Regularly published documents can be compared reliably and over time e.g ofsted reports

Question 6

What are reliable weaknesses of documents?

Answer 6

Usually unstandardised can’t be repeated in same way

Question 7

What are representative strengths of documents?

Answer 7

Large and representative sample of regularly published documents such as newspapers

Question 8

What are representative weaknesses of documents?

Answer 8

• small samples of personal documents

* John Scott - can’t be sure that historical documents reflect typical ideas of the time

Question 9

What are validity strengths of documents?

Answer 9

• insight into author - personal documents

* insight you wouldn’t be able to get otherwise - historical

Question 10

Explain John Scott’s valid weaknesses of documents, authenticity:

Answer 10

Historical documents aren’t always authentic they can be forgeries or errors from year of copying

Question 11

Explain John Scott’s valid weaknesses of documents, credibility:

Answer 11

The author may be deliberately misleading

Question 12

Explain John Scott’s valid weaknesses of documents, meaning:

Answer 12

Words can change meaning over time and different researchers will interpret differently

Question 13

What do media documents include?

Answer 13

Newspapers 
Novels 
Autobiography 
Adverts 
Tv 
Radio 
Posters

Question 14

What does formal content analysis attempt to do?

Answer 14

Quantify and classify content in an objective manner - count how many times something occurs using a category

Question 15

Give an example of formal content analysis:

Answer 15

E.g counting gender stereotyping instances in a tv show

Question 16

What is good about formal content analysis?

Answer 16

Effective measure of straightforward aspects

Question 17

What is bad about formal content analysis?

Answer 17

Says little about the meaning of documents to their audience or producer

Question 18

What does thematic analysis do?

Answer 18

Looks for bias in the way things are reported - the motives and ideology underlying documents

Question 19

Give an example of motives underlying documents:

Answer 19

News reflecting interests of powerful groups

Question 20

What did Glasgow uni media group find using thematic analysis:

Answer 20

The news reflects pro-management anti Union bias in industrial disputes

Question 21

What are some criticisms of thematic analysis?

Answer 21

• is the document being misinterpreted

* does the bias matter to its audience

Question 22

What does textual analysis do?

Answer 22

Examines text closely to see how it encourages particular reading

Question 23

Give an example of how headlines push for certain reading:

Answer 23

Innocent victim vs. Evil perpetrator

Question 24

What are criticisms of textual analysis?

Answer 24

Misinterpretation

not what producer intended

Question 25

What are strengths of content analysis?

Answer 25

• Cheap
• researcher can compare different sources longitudinally
• quantitative - reliable repeated using same content analysis schedule

Question 26

What are weaknesses of content analysis?

Answer 26

• time consuming - longitudinal
• subjective - categories decided by researcher
• analysing texts out of context
• don’t tell us about society or public opinion
• can’t assume bias messages impact audiences