ch 12 Flashcards
Content analysis
An approach to the analysis of documents and texts that seeks to quantify content in terms of predetermined categories in a systematic and replicable manner. The term is sometimes used in connection with qualitative research as well; see qualitative content analysis.
semiotics
An approach to the analysis of documents and other materials that emphasizes the importance of signs and symbols, seeking out their deeper meaning and exploring their intended effects.
hermeneutics
An approach to the interpretation of texts that emphasizes the need to understand them from the perspective of their authors.
conversation analysis
The fine-grained analysis of talk (recorded in naturally occurring situations and then transcribed) to uncover the underlying structures in interaction that make social order possible. Conversation analysis is grounded in ethnomethodology.
discourse analysis
An approach to the analysis of talk and other forms of communication that emphasizes the way language can create versions of reality.
what is ethnomethodolog, what roots in it
A sociological perspective concerned with the way social order is established and maintained through talk and interaction; the intellectual foundation of conversation analysis.
critical discourse analysis
A type of content analysis that brings issues such as power hierarchies, structural inequalities, and historical political struggles to bear on the analyses of texts.
five W’s that are the basis of any news report. researchers are also interested in
who (does the reporting); what (gets reported); where (does the issue get reported); why (does the issue get reported); and when (does it get reported. in what it omits (criminal parents example)
documents
can be “read” (including visual materials such as photographs); and
* was not produced specifically for the purpose of social research.
documents are important because they are _____ and _____
unobtrusive and non-reactive
reactive
The effect on research participants of knowing that they are being studied, which may result in atypical or inauthentic behaviour.
The fact that the subjects don’t know they are being studied removes a common threat to the
validity of the data
distictions in document (4)
personal private
personal state
official private
official state
4 criteria for assessing the quality of document
- Authenticity. Is the evidence genuine and of unquestionable origin? (differet from ch 9)
- Credibility. Is the evidence free from error and distortion?
- Representativeness. Is the evidence typical of what it is supposed to represent (for example, social life at a particular time and place)? If not, is the extent of its uniqueness known?
- Meaning. Is the evidence clear and comprehensible?
life history
A method (often referred to as the biographical method) that emphasizes the inner experience of individuals and its connections with larger societal events throughout the life course. It usually entails life history interviews and the use of personal documents as data
two credibility concerns
if factual and what is not said can be significant
representative issue
those who were literal were those who were privileged
three types of home photography
idealization (a formal portrait of a wedding party or the family in its finery); natural portrayal (an informal snapshot capturing action as it happens, though there may be a contrived component); and demystification (depicting the subject in an atypical—often embarrassing—situation).
Which criterion for assessing the quality of documents is most important in the case of personal documents?
Authenticity
Which group is disproportionately represented by letters, diaries, and autobiographies?
The wealthy
Which criteria for assessing the quality of documents do government documents typically meet?
Authenticity and meaning
_______ are a rich source of statistical information.
Government documents correct
why is autheticity difficult in mass media output
The authors are not always identified, as in the case of a TV news report, so it is sometimes difficult to know whether a given account was prepared by someone in a position to know all the facts.
credibility in mass media
frequently an issue, and as the examples used in this section show, it is often the uncovering of error or distortion that is the objective of the analysis.
Which approach pays special attention to the social and political implications of the materials being examined?
Critical discourse analysis
correct
research 3 explored the concept of
othering through an article based on Canadian news media reports
the paper studies how
HIV criminalization portrayed in mainstream Canadian press by examining Trevis Smith
what was the pattern in research found
threatening, racialized outsiders,
and also, construct the nation of Canada as pure and
free of disease”
otherness
refers
to the way that racialized discourses reduce people to a
few essential characteristics that are universalized and
represented as ‘fixed by nature’”
forms of othering inscribe people as
significantly ‘different from the majority’ and are
structured in terms of sharp, hierarchical binaries such
as good/bad, civilized/primitive; attractive/ugly;
familiar/exotic
method of the 3 research Unobtrusive methods
content analysis
third research is a census true or false
true
population of third study
all media representations of HIV
criminalization / racialization / othering.
sample of third research
one case study of an HIV criminalization
case, as reported in the print newspaper media.
unit of analysis third research
the stories (news paper articles)
third research - coded the articles. in particular what was explored
headlines, as well as quoting and sourcing patterns, represent Smith and the nation of Canada
what were the categories of findings (third research)
headline
quotation patterns
why are headlines important
Headlines warrant close attention because they
function to express the most prominent or most
relevant information of a news item and define the
situation reported by the press.
manifest content
the content you can see by just looking
74% of the headline son Trevis Smith were
standard series of events through which criminal trials proceeded
some headlines 31% (1/3) used descriptors that remind readers that smith is
no longer a part of the Roughriders’
organization
54 news articles mention that he is from the US. what does this do
News headlines serve as mechanisms that reinforce a
boundary between the Roughriders as symbols of
hearty, prairie pride, and Smith as an American-born
outsider with a criminalized HIV-positive status
news headlines present smith’s case to readers as a story about an
outsider
most news articles case do what to the presepctives of people living with HIV
omit
Instead of including quotes from people
living with HIV, news articles typically include
quotations from
from those who speak about them,
especially criminal justice actors such as complainants,
judges, lawyers, and witnesses who testify at criminal
trials
who is quoted most to least in the cases
- defence lawyer 89 times
- women who brought charges 42 times
- CFL players 34
-and judges 26 time - roughrider chairman 25
- roughride president 8 times
- roughrider general manager 7 times
Many articles prominently feature quotes from
criminal justice actors that try to establish his
moral culpability
opposing players portrayed him as
not like them - different
- an other
conclusion
News reports that quote those who uphold the
vaunted image of the CFL to emphasize Smith’s status
as an outsider add to a long lineage of representations
that construct white settler societies as ‘natural’ by
depicting non-white people as ‘out of place
- racialized other who POSE A THREAT TO PUBLIC HEALTH AND TO IDEALIZED CONCEPTIONS OF PURITY
how do people maintain the social hierarchy of race
One of the most efficient means of maintaining a
socially stratified society with the white race on top of
the social hierarchy is to feed continuous fear and
prejudice toward the ‘others.’ One way to feed this fear
is to represent the ‘other’ as a threat to health
what does better journalism look like - second conclusion
we call for the widespread
support of counter-discourses of HIV criminalization
that can disrupt the profound silencing, othering, and
objectification of African, Caribbean, and Black people
in news coverage of HIV non-disclosure criminal cases
- having some voices in articles of people with HIV. others experiences
advantages of content analysis
Unobtrusive: the act of research does not influence
what is being studied.
Quick and inexpensive: much content analysis, such
as that undertaken by Hastings and colleagues, can
be done efficiently using publicly available data.
Flexible: allows the study of events that take place
over a long period of time, and across many different
locations.
disadvantages of content analysis
Dependent upon available content: one can only
analyze that which is available (no opportunity to
generate new data).
Challenges of validity and bias: content available to
be analyzed was always created for a purpose, and
researchers must be sensitive to what that purpose
was.
why were the articles in the third study written
to get more read, which gets more money
- gets people to talk rather good or bad
