Content analysis

Question 1

content analysis

Answer 1

• method used to analyse qualitative data
• transform qualitative data into quantitative data
• data is collected from interview, transcripts
• researcher reads through/ examines them and makes themes/ events/ coding units
• data is analysed using coding analysis/ applying the coding units
• a tally is made for no.of occurrences of coding unit

Question 2

thematic analysis

Answer 2

method for analysing qualitative data that involves reporting pattens within the material e.g. diary, interview transcripts etc..

• make a transcription of the interview
• use coding units to initially analyse the transcript
• review the coding units to look for themes

Question 3

ads of content analysis

Answer 3

+ it is a reliable way to continue to analyse qualitative data as the coding units are not open to interpretation
= so are applied in the same way over time and w/ different researches

+ it is an easy technique to use and is not too time consuming

+ it allows a statistical analysis to be conducted if required as there is usually quantitative data as a result of the procedure

Question 4

disads of content analysis

Answer 4

• causality cannot be established as it merely describes the data = don’t know which variable affected what
• as it only describes the data, it cannot extract any deeper meaning or explanation for the data patterns arising