content anaylsis

Question 1

case studies AO1

Answer 1

the detailed analysis of an individual or group
involve analysis of unusual individuals or events - but also focus on ‘typical’ cases

research techniques can be used such as interviews and observations = qualitative data
but intelligence or personality tests = quantitative

generally longitudinal = take place over a long period of time

Question 2

example of a case study

Answer 2

Freud studied Little han’s fear of horses

Hans father wrote to Freud to tell him about Hans development. = qualitative

interviews and interactions with Hans disocvered He was frightened that a horse might bite him or fall
and afraid of large white horses with black around the mouth
= oedipus
= qualitative data

Question 3

a strength of case studies is they offer rich….

Answer 3

and detailed insights into unusual behaviour.
this is preferred to more superficial forms of data that might be collected from an experiment.
such detail is likely to increase the validity of the data collected

Question 4

a weakness of case studies is generalisability

Answer 4

this is an issue because they use such small sample
therefore the results can be used to explain the wider populations behaviour

Question 5

a weakness of case studies is theyre prone to reseracher bias

Answer 5

this is because conclusions are based on the subjective interpretation of the researcher and personal accounts
this may reduce the validity of the study

Question 6

content analysis Ao1

Answer 6

Type of observational research

People are studied directly via the communications they have produced. includes: Spoken interaction, Written forms

Coding is the first stage - Some data sets may be large so information needs to be categorised into meaningful units

May involve counting the number of times a particular word or phrase appears in text to produce quantitative data

Question 7

content analysis AO3 - strength - ethical

Answer 7

a strength is that many ethical issues may not apply
this is because the material to study e.g TV adverts may already be in the public domain
this means there is no issue wit obtaining consent

Question 8

content analysis AO3 - strenght - flexible

Answer 8

a strength is that it is a flexible method
this is because content analysis can produce both quantitative and qualitative data as required
this means that it is a flexible approach that can be adapted to suit the aims of the reserach

Question 9

content analysis AO3 - wekaness - objectivity

Answer 9

a limitation is that it may lack objectivity
especially when more descriptive forms of thematic analysis are used
therefore, such bias may effect the validity of the findings and conclusions

Question 10

thematic analysis

Answer 10

a method of reporting themes within data = qualitative
taking a body of text and organising it into a specific theme so the content can be summarised

Question 11

order of thematic analysis

Answer 11

1. write the data, number each line and read the text, make notes of any ideas that occur
2. Divide the text into meaningful units using a forward slash between every change subject.
3. Search the entire text for meanings that seem to have a similar theme and group these together.
4. Keep adjusting your themes as you continue to sort through
5. satisfied that there are no more themes to find you will need to define
   and name each theme
6. Write up the report. In the results section - present a case for each
   theme and provide some supporting verbatim quotations using the
   original line number