Content Analysis Flashcards
What is the difference between measures of central tendency and measures of dispersion?
Central tendency - tells us about the central/‘average’ values for a set of data
Dispersion - tells us how spread out the data items are and how much variation there is in data
What levels of data can be used for the mean?
Ratio and interval data (why?)
What levels of measurement can be used to find the median?
Ratio, interval and ordinal data (data values must be in order)
How is the mode used with different levels of data?
Nominal: category with highest frequency count
Interval and ordinal: data item that occurs most frequently
How can a range help discover trends?
It can differentiate data sets that have the same mean for example
What is standard deviation?
Average distance between each data item above and below the mean
How is frequency data plotted?
y-axis: frequency
x-axis: item of interest
Can help us find a distribution
What are the defining features of a normal distribution?
. Mean, median and mode are all in the exact mid-point
. Distribution is symmetrical around the midpoint
. Dispersion of measurements either side of the midpoint should be consistent and can be expressed as standard deviations
Where do the difference measures of data lie in positively and negatively skewed distributions?
Positive: median in middle, mode to the left (higher) and mean to the right (lower)
Negative: median in middle, mode to the right (higher) and mean to the left (lower)
What is quantitative data?
Information that represents how much or how long, meaning quantities. Can be represented as a number that can be counted and quantified
What is qualitative data?
Information in words that cannot be counted or quantified but can be turned to quantitative data by placing the information into categories and counting frequency (creating nominal data)
What is primary data?
Information observed or collected directly from first-hand experience, such as data taken directly from a researcher through self-report or interviews etc.
- the data collected would be specifically related to an aim of hypothesis of a study
What is secondary data?
Information used in a research study that wasn’t taken directly from the researcher but by someone else for an original purpose other than the current research taking place e.g published data
- review studies such as a meta-analysis will always use secondary data
- correlation studies often use secondary data to draw conclusions
What is content analysis?
A method of quantifying qualitative content via coding/categorisation
What are the 6 aspects of a scientific report?
. Abstract
. Introduction
. Method
. Results
. Discussion
. References
Why do we write scientific reports?
. To publish results to a wider community and get people to know about your research
- scientific reports ensures that all details of what was done and how it was done is included, so that the research can be replicated exactly by someone else
What is an abstract in a scientific report?
Concise summary of the report, around 150 words telling the reader about the major elements of the report: aim, hypotheses, method, results and conclusion
Why is an abstract important in a scientific report?
So that researchers don’t have to read hundreds of reports when conducting new research. They use these to find the most relevant reports to read in full
What is the introduction in a scientific report?
Literature review and overview of the current research field
- written using the funnel technique, so that broad themes are covered first, and these are narrowed in closer and closer to the current piece of research
- ends with the aim and hypothesis of the current research
What is the method section of a scientific report?
Detailed enough section for someone else to pick up the report and replicate the research consistently, should include:
. Research design and method
. Sample and participants
. Apparatus/equipment
. Procedure
. Ethics
What should be in the results section of a scientific report?
. Key findings in relation to the hypothesis
. Descriptive statistics such as tables, graphs, measures of central tendency and dispersion
. Inferential statistics that refer to the choice of statistical test, level of significance
How is the results section of a scientific report different for qualitative research?
The results will more likely include analysis of themes and categories
What is in the discussion section of a scientific report?
. Verbal summary of results at the start, including relating the results to the aim and hypothesis from intro
. Compares results to previous research outlined in introduction
. Limitations of research discussed, and possible suggestions of addressing these in future research
. Implications of the research for real life are acknowledged
What is the referencing section of a scientific report?
All the sources the researcher used to gather/support their initial information and apparatus for their investigation e.g books, articles, websites
Why are references needed in a scientific report?
To avoid accusations of plagiarism
How are references done for books in a scientific report?
Author (Surname, first letter of forename) (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Location:publisher
How are references done for journal articles?
Author, & Author. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of journal (italics), volume number, page range. Retrieved from (URL)
What is included in the appendices of a scientific report?
. Consent form
. Debrief form
. Questionnaires
. Diagrams
. Raw data
. Statistical calculations
How is content analysis carried out?
. Researchers need to establish their aims and hypotheses
. Need to familiarise yourself with the data so that a suitable coding system can be developed, with behavioural categories/themes
. With these suitable codes, the researcher can systematically re-analyse the data to identify examples of each code that can be tallied quantitatively
. Represent data on graphs for quantitative analysis and use of descriptive statistics
What level of measurement does the tallying of behavioural categories create?
Nominal data (frequencies)
How can you assess the reliability of content analysis using inter-observer reliability?
. Use a second researcher
. They should indecently read the interviews/listen to recordings separately and devise behavioural categories
. The behavioural categories must be agreed on
. Tally the occurrences of each category
. Compare the tallies and carry out correlational analysis between the results of the two observers
What correlation coefficient is needed to accept the findings of inter-observer reliability?
+0.8 or higher
How can you assess the reliability of content analysis using test-retest?
. Repeat content analysis on a different occasion using the same data
. Compare results of the two repetitions
. Calculate a correlation between the two, accepting a correlation of +0.8.
