7.3: Content analysis Flashcards
A psychologist was reading an article about typical dream themes in adults.
The psychologist was interested in finding out whether dream themes differed between males and females, particularly in terms of social interaction. She decided to conduct a pilot study. Twenty undergraduate students (8 male and 12 female) volunteered for the study. For a six-week period the students were interviewed at 9 am each morning when they arrived at university. Interviewers, who did not know the purpose of the study, carried out and recorded the dream interviews.
Another researcher, who did not know the purpose of the study, carried out a content analysis of the interview data.
Explain how this content analysis could have been conducted (4 marks)
The researcher would identify important categories/themes from the interviews
A psychologist was reading an article about typical dream themes in adults.
The psychologist was interested in finding out whether dream themes differed between males and females, particularly in terms of social interaction. She decided to conduct a pilot study. Twenty undergraduate students (8 male and 12 female) volunteered for the study. For a six-week period the students were interviewed at 9 am each morning when they arrived at university. Interviewers, who did not know the purpose of the study, carried out and recorded the dream interviews.
Another researcher, who did not know the purpose of the study, carried out a content analysis of the interview data.
Explain how this content analysis could have been conducted (4 marks).
The researcher would identify important categories/themes from the interviews.
Example
For example, references to aggressive interactions
A psychologist was reading an article about typical dream themes in adults.
The psychologist was interested in finding out whether dream themes differed between males and females, particularly in terms of social interaction. She decided to conduct a pilot study. Twenty undergraduate students (8 male and 12 female) volunteered for the study. For a six-week period the students were interviewed at 9 am each morning when they arrived at university. Interviewers, who did not know the purpose of the study, carried out and recorded the dream interviews.
Another researcher, who did not know the purpose of the study, carried out a content analysis of the interview data.
Explain how this content analysis could have been conducted (4 marks).
The researcher would identify important categories/themes from the interviews.
For example, references to aggressive interactions.
What would they then do?
They would then repeatedly listen to segments of the recording and count or tally the number of occurrences of each of the categories/themes
A psychologist was reading an article about typical dream themes in adults.
The psychologist was interested in finding out whether dream themes differed between males and females, particularly in terms of social interaction. She decided to conduct a pilot study. Twenty undergraduate students (8 male and 12 female) volunteered for the study. For a six-week period the students were interviewed at 9 am each morning when they arrived at university. Interviewers, who did not know the purpose of the study, carried out and recorded the dream interviews.
Another researcher, who did not know the purpose of the study, carried out a content analysis of the interview data.
The psychologist wanted to assess the reliability of the content analysis.
Explain how the reliability of the content analysis could be assessed (4 marks)
The reliability of the content analysis could be assessed by inter-rater reliability
A psychologist was reading an article about typical dream themes in adults.
The psychologist was interested in finding out whether dream themes differed between males and females, particularly in terms of social interaction. She decided to conduct a pilot study. Twenty undergraduate students (8 male and 12 female) volunteered for the study. For a six-week period the students were interviewed at 9 am each morning when they arrived at university. Interviewers, who did not know the purpose of the study, carried out and recorded the dream interviews.
Another researcher, who did not know the purpose of the study, carried out a content analysis of the interview data.
The psychologist wanted to assess the reliability of the content analysis.
Explain how the reliability of the content analysis could be assessed (4 marks).
The reliability of the content analysis could be assessed by inter-rater reliability.
How could this be done?
This could be done by using a second person to work with the original researcher
A psychologist was reading an article about typical dream themes in adults.
The psychologist was interested in finding out whether dream themes differed between males and females, particularly in terms of social interaction. She decided to conduct a pilot study. Twenty undergraduate students (8 male and 12 female) volunteered for the study. For a six-week period the students were interviewed at 9 am each morning when they arrived at university. Interviewers, who did not know the purpose of the study, carried out and recorded the dream interviews.
Another researcher, who did not know the purpose of the study, carried out a content analysis of the interview data.
The psychologist wanted to assess the reliability of the content analysis.
Explain how the reliability of the content analysis could be assessed (4 marks).
The reliability of the content analysis could be assessed by inter-rater reliability.
This could be done by using a second person to work with the original researcher.
What could they do?
They could read the interviews separately and devise a set of categories and agree operational definitions
A psychologist was reading an article about typical dream themes in adults.
The psychologist was interested in finding out whether dream themes differed between males and females, particularly in terms of social interaction. She decided to conduct a pilot study. Twenty undergraduate students (8 male and 12 female) volunteered for the study. For a six-week period the students were interviewed at 9 am each morning when they arrived at university. Interviewers, who did not know the purpose of the study, carried out and recorded the dream interviews.
Another researcher, who did not know the purpose of the study, carried out a content analysis of the interview data.
The psychologist wanted to assess the reliability of the content analysis.
Explain how the reliability of the content analysis could be assessed (4 marks).
The reliability of the content analysis could be assessed by inter-rater reliability.
This could be done by using a second person to work with the original researcher.
They could read the interviews separately and devise a set of categories and agree operational definitions.
What could they then do?
They could then tally the occurrences of each of the categories of the interviews separately and compare their tally charts
A psychologist was reading an article about typical dream themes in adults.
The psychologist was interested in finding out whether dream themes differed between males and females, particularly in terms of social interaction. She decided to conduct a pilot study. Twenty undergraduate students (8 male and 12 female) volunteered for the study. For a six-week period the students were interviewed at 9 am each morning when they arrived at university. Interviewers, who did not know the purpose of the study, carried out and recorded the dream interviews.
Another researcher, who did not know the purpose of the study, carried out a content analysis of the interview data.
The psychologist wanted to assess the reliability of the content analysis.
Explain how the reliability of the content analysis could be assessed (4 marks).
The reliability of the content analysis could be assessed by inter-rater reliability.
This could be done by using a second person to work with the original researcher.
They could read the interviews separately and devise a set of categories and agree operational definitions.
They could then tally the occurrences of each of the categories of the interviews separately and compare their tally charts, looking for what?
They could then tally the occurrences of each of the categories of the interviews separately and compare their tally charts, looking for agreement
