Ch 12. Content Analysis

Question 1

Documents” can be any source of data that:

Answer 1

• Can be “read”
• Was not produced specifically for the purposes of social research

(e.g., letters, diaries, autobiographies, websites, photographs)

Question 2

Scott’s (1990) criteria for assessing quality of documents (EXAM) (4)

Answer 2

1. Authenticity: Genuine and of unquestionable origin. Did the author actually write the piece?
2. Credibility: Free from error or distortion, factually accurate. Is the report factual? Does it reflect the true feelings of the author?
3. Representativeness: Typical of what it is supposed to represent. Do the documents accurately reflect people of different classes and genders?
4. Meaning: Clear and comprehensible. May be somewhat elusive (find/describe)

Question 3

Examples of Personal Documents

Answer 3

Diaries
Letters
Autobiographies
Visual objects

Question 4

Photographs can be (3)

Answer 4

Used to illustrate points
Sources of data
Used as prompts to get people to talk

Question 5

Scott (1990) maintains that family photographs are of three types:

Answer 5

Idealization: formally posed
Natural portrayal: candid, not posed
Demystification: revealing, atypical portrayal

Question 6

Photographs available may not be typical of the event or episode depicted. Consider?

Answer 6

What is not photographed may be very significant.

Question 7

What are examples of government documents?

Answer 7

census information, voting records, official reports

Question 8

Are government documents credible?

Answer 8

Biases can occur based on organizational structure/hierarchy which may lead to a distortion of data. It may also not be representativeness.

Question 9

Mass Media Outputs: things to consider about authenticity and credibility?

Answer 9

authorship may be hard to ascertain.
May represent particular interest groups and must do so to keep an audience.
Context is important to consider

Question 10

Subjects and themes that are analyzed include both

Answer 10

manifest and latent content.
example: the subject of “women in politics” and whether gender stereotypes are invoked/implied.

Question 11

Two key concerns with coding:

Answer 11

1. designing a coding schedule
2. designing a coding manual

Question 12

Potential Pitfalls in Devising Coding Schemes

Answer 12

• categorizing must be mutually exclusive
• categories must be exhaustive
• instructions must be clear
• unit of analysis must be clear
• pilot test will reduce risks of error
• reliability of coding is important (inter and intra-coder reliability)

Question 13

• Researcher decides what themes are to be extracted and how the presence of a theme is established
• Themes are recurrent topics mentioned in a text or in a recording
• Themes could be anticipated or emergent in the text

Answer 13

Qualitative content analysis looks for underlying themes present in a unit of analysis

Question 14

Differs from quantitative content analysis in that the researcher is constantly revising the themes or categories as the data are examined
Emphasizes the context in which the documents were generated
Follows a recursive and reflexive movement between concept development-sampling-data, collection-data, coding-data, and analysis interpretation

Answer 14

Ethnographic Content Analysis

Question 15

science of signs

Answer 15

Semiotics

Question 16

something that stands for something else, such as a yellow traffic light

Answer 16

Sign

Question 17

text interpretation

Answer 17

hermeneutics

Question 18

(hermeneutics) The meaning of a text involves author’s …

Answer 18

…circumstances and context in which the text was constructed. The author’s worldview is important for deriving meaning.

Question 19

Things like pauses and sounds have meaning that depend on the context in which they exist

Answer 19

Indexicality

Question 20

Detailed analysis of the structure of talk

Answer 20

Conversation Analysis

Question 21

Conversation Analysis has what kind of understanding and ontology?

Answer 21

contextual understanding and a constructionist ontology

Question 22

How is conversation analysis linked to quantitative research tradition:

Answer 22

• Fine-grained detailed analysis of talk
• Structure of talk analyzed
• Positivist orientation on replicability
• Context means just the words said before a response

Question 23

Characteristics of how talk is organized

Answer 23

turn-taking & adjacency pairs (how the talk moves between parties (ex. question/answer)

Question 24

Discourse Analysis is “anti-realist” which means:

Answer 24

No objective reality waiting to be found, no objective account of social world is possible

Question 25

Discourse analysis tends toward a constructionist orientation:

Answer 25

• Priority to accounts by actual participants
• Recognizes that many different accounts are possible
• Oriented to action (Considers strategies employed by actors to achieve their objectives in communication)

Question 26

Gill (2000) identified four themes in discourse analysis (potential essay question):

Answer 26

1. Discourse is a topic in itself
2. Language is constructive
3. Discourse is a form of action
4. Discourse is rhetorically organized

Question 27

Strategies of Discourse Analysis:

Answer 27

1. quantification rhetoric (using facts to support the argument)
2. using variation in numbers to highlight contrast
3. attention to specific details
4. attention to rhetorical detail

Question 28

Exposes the political nature of the examined texts, considers the issues of power hierarchies, structural inequalities, and historical political struggles. Social justice focus.

Answer 28

Critical discourse analysis

Question 29

Very transparent in its quantitative form, and therefore easily replicated
Allows for longitudinal analysis
Unobtrusive method
Flexible: It can be used with several kinds of unstructured information
Overcomes social barriers to researcher access

Answer 29

Advantages of Content Analysis

Question 30

Limitations due to the texts analyzed (e.g., authenticity, credibility, representativeness)
Usually some inter-coder and intra-coder unreliability
Potential for invalid conjecture, especially in discussions of latent meanings (problems of interpretation)
Difficult to answer “Why?” questions using this method
Emphasis on measurement may make it atheoretical in nature

Answer 30

Disadvantages of Content Analysis