A2 Research Methods L

Question 1

Define and describe content analysis

Answer 1

Content analysis is a method used to analyse qualitative data. It allows a researcher to take qualitative data and transform it into quantitative data.

The technique can be used for data in many different formats, for example interview transcripts and film and/or audio recordings.

The researcher conducting a content analysis will use coding units in their work. An example of coding units would be the number of positive or negative words used by a mother to describe her child’s behaviour, or the number of swear words in a film.

Question 2

Describe the procedure for content analysis

Answer 2

1. Data is collected.
2. Researcher reads through or examines the data making themselves familiar with it.
3. The researcher identifies coding units.
4. The data is analysed by applying the coding units.
5. A tally is made of the number of times that a coding unit appears.

Question 3

What is thematic analysis?

Answer 3

This is a method for analysing qualitative data that involves identifying and reporting patterns within the material. The material might be a diary, TV advertisements, or interview transcripts.

Question 4

What is the procedure for thematic analysis?

Answer 4

the researcher will need to;
- Make a transcription of the interview.
- Use coding units to initially analyse the transcript.
- Review the coding units to look for themes.

For example, imagine a psychologist was interviewing violent offenders about their family and early childhood. The themes that emerge could be family violence, parental argument, alcohol misuse etc.

Question 5

What are the advantages of content analysis?

Answer 5

1) Content analysis produce reliable data. If the content analysis was to be repeated in the future, similar/consistent results would be obtained (quantitative data)

2) Content analysis produces quantitative data which allows for trends and patterns in data to be identified (also some qualitative data can be produced)

3) Content analysis is less time consuming that other research methods in terms of collecting data e.g. interviews

Question 6

What are the disadvantages of content analysis?

Answer 6

1) Content analysis is not very scientific or objective. It can be quite subjective based on the themes/categories that the psychologist uses

2) Content analysis can be invalid, are the themes/categories really measuring the effect of the IV on the DV?

3) Content analysis data collection needs to be contextualised e.g. sleep behaviour measured in a sleep lab is a different context to sleeping at home

Question 7

Define and describe ‘case studies’

Answer 7

Case studies involve the detailed investigation of a single individual or group or institution. This may be because the psychologist has only found one or two individuals who display this rare and/or fascinating behaviour.

Case studies provide rich, detailed qualitative data compared to other research methods. Case studies usually involve several methods (observations, interviews, etc.) which allows researchers to check for consistency, reliability and validity.

Question 8

What kind of data can be collected from case studies?

Answer 8

Psychologists can collect qualitative data (for example from interviews and observations); and/or quantitative data such as questionnaires or experiments.

Case studies can last weeks, months or years and so can be longitudinal. This means they are able to observe changes over time.

Question 9

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