Content Analyisis and Thematic Analyisis

Question 1

What is content analysis?

Answer 1

a systematic research technique for analysing qualitative data according to themes or categories

Question 2

What does qualitative analysis typically involve?

Answer 2

converting qualitative data (non-numerical data) into quantitative data (numerical data) by placing it into categories so instances can be counted

Question 3

What can the method or content analysis do?

Answer 3

analyse transcripts from spoken data, texts such as newspapers and books and live data such as advertisements, TV programmes and films.

Question 4

What does coding in involve?

Answer 4

identifying specific units of data in the source material so they can be put into categories in an objective way

Question 5

what is an example of a code?

Answer 5

An example of a code may be a particular violent action in a film such as a punch and the number of occurrences of this are counted within a category, such as “violent actions” .

Question 6

What is the process of Content Analysis?

Answer 6

-familiarise your self with the source material that is to be analysed.
-Identify important categories which emerge from the data.
-Give examples of possible categories
-Work through the material again to analyse the source material by tallying the number of occurrences of each of the categories.
-Comparisons can be made between categories/different sources.

Question 7

What is thematic analysis?

Answer 7

is a method for studying qualitative data (non-numerical data) which focuses on analysing meaning conveyed by language.

Question 8

What does thematic analysis involve?

Answer 8

It involves identifying recurrent themes (trends) that emerge from the data which are recorded in qualitative form and not converted to quantitative data.

Question 9

What can the method of thematic analysis analyse?

Answer 9

language-based material, such as transcripts from spoken data, texts such as newspapers and books and live data such as advertisements, TV programmes and films

Question 10

What is thematic analysis commonly used to analyse?

Answer 10

rich, descriptive data obtained from case studies and self-reports

Question 11

What does coding in thematic analysis involve?

Answer 11

identifying specific units of meaning in the source material that help to describe the content

Question 12

What is an example of a code in coding in thematic analysis?

Answer 12

An example of a code may be a particular phrase repeated by a character in a film which helps to describe their personality.

Question 13

What would the theme be in coding in thematic analysis? (using the example of the code)

Answer 13

theme in this case would be the personality of the main character, which will only emerge once sufficient coding of how they communicate has been carried out

Question 14

What is the general process of thematic analysis? (as there is no one method)

Answer 14

-Transcribe the source material if in verbal form.
-Read the transcript several times to become familiar with the source material.
-Identify specific units of meaning in the text.
-Assign short-hand codes to the units of meaning.
-Combine codes into larger categories/themes and then examples can be provided.
-Comparisons can be made between different themes/sources.

Question 15

What are the strengths of content and thematic analysis?

Answer 15

High ecological validity and Replicability

Question 16

Why do the methods have high ecological validity?

Answer 16

-Analysis is based on what people say, do or the material they have created.
-The material being analysed is therefore presented in an everyday context.

Question 17

Why do the methods have replicability?

Answer 17

-Providing the coding procedure is standardised and operationalised, the method can be easily replicated.
-Inter-rater reliability can therefore be used to check it the findings are reliable.

Question 18

What are the limitations of the methods?

Answer 18

-Investigator bias
-Temporal Validity

Question 19

Why do the processes have investigator bias?

Answer 19

-If the coding system is poorly standardised or operationalised, different researchers may analyse the material in different ways.
-This is especially an issue for thematic analysis because identifying emerging themes requires a degree of subjective interpretation which may differ depending on the researcher’s beliefs.

Question 20

Why do the methods have low temporal validity?

Answer 20

If the researcher analysing the material is from an era that is different to the time period when material was created, they may misunderstand the meanings portrayed leading to an inaccurate analysis.

Question 21

How can the reliability of the methods be improved?

Answer 21

The coding system should be standardised to ensure the procedure can be used in the same way by multiple researchers or to check the reliability of the analysis through replication.

Question 22

How the the internal validity of the methods be improved?

Answer 22

The categories chosen should be operationalised and mutually exclusive to avoid bias and to ensure the source material is being accurately referenced

Question 23

How can the external (temporal) validity of the methods be improved?

Answer 23

Temporal validity may be an issue if the source material from a previous era is interpreted in a different way by researchers of a later era. It is important to understand the norms of the earlier cultural period or only source material from the current era is selected.

Question 24

What type of processing does thematic analysis have?

Answer 24

Top down processing- Decide what your looking for then look for it

Question 25

What type of processing does content analysis have?

Answer 25

bottom up process- look at the data and use that to decide what you’re looking for