Content/ Thematic Analysis

Question 1

What is content analysis?

Answer 1

A method used to analyse qualitative data by turning it into quantitative data

Question 2

How does content analysis work?

Answer 2

Qualitative data is quantified through the use of coding, although outcome is usually written, turned into quantitative data

Question 3

Waynforth + Dunbar conducted a content analysis, answer these questions based on the study:

1. What was the thing they were analysing
2. How many of these “things” did they review
3. What were the findings of the study
4. How did the researchers conduct a content analysis on this data

Answer 3

Waynforth and Dunbar conducted a content analysis by analysing lonely heart adverts in newspapers to see if men/women were looking for different things in relationships

They looked at 881 lonely heart adverts
Found men aimed adverts at younger women and tended to cite resources over attractiveness/looks
Found women aimed adverts at older men and mentioned attractiveness more than their resources

Researcher conducted content analysis by codifying the themes, giving them numerical values, transforming qualitative data into quantitative data

Question 4

What are the steps to conducting a content analysis?

Answer 4

1. The researcher choose a research question
2. A sample of pre - existing qualitative research is selected
   examples: interviews, transcripts, diaries, video recordings and images
3. Researcher decides on coding of the categories/coding units
4. Researchers works through data creating a tally to indicate how common certain categories.code are in the qualitative data
5. Researcher tests for the types of reliability: test - retest reliability/ inter - rater reliability

Question 4

What is test - retest reliability?

Answer 4

Running the content analysis again on the same sample, them comparing results
Similar results indicate the research has good test - retest reliability

Question 5

What is inter - rater reliability?

Answer 5

A second rater conduct runs the content analysis with the same coding categories and data, then compares them

If there is similarity then there is good inter - rater reliability

Question 6

What are limitations of content analysis:

1) Type of bias
2) Type of variable
3) Representation

Answer 6

1. Researcher bias can occur when a researcher interprets the data, as they may base it on their own conceptions
2. Content analysis may lack validity due to extraneous variables, for example the use of a diary entry as a tool for research may cause high subjectivity
3. Data collected from content analysis can be over representative of certain events, material that is readily available tends to be used, leading to this over representation

Question 7

What does thematic analysis allow researchers to do?

Answer 7

Thematic analysis allows researchers to identify, analyse and report common/key themes from a set of data

Question 7

What are strengths of content analysis:

1) Reliability
2) Time
3) Applicability

Answer 7

1. Content analysis are reliable techniques as they can be easily repeated
2. Unlike other techniques, content analysis is not overly time consuming compared to that of thematic analysis of qualitative data
3. Content analysis compliments other research methods and is often used to verify results from other research conducted

Question 7

What is a thematic analysis?

Answer 7

A thematic analysis is a method used to analyse qualitative data

Question 8

How would researchers conduct a thematic analysis?

Answer 8

1. Researchers familiarise themselves with data by reading it over and over again
2. Themes from the data then begin to emerge
3. Researchers then review these themes and patterns to see if they can explain the behaviour
4. The researchers then categorise and define each theme
5. The researcher then writes their analysis into their formal report

Question 9

Thematic analysis is described as an inductive method, why?

Answer 9

Thematic analysis is described as an inductive method because themes emerge from data, as a result there is no hypothesis testing is involved

Question 10

What are the limitation of thematic analysis?

1) Time
2) Focus point
3) Validity

Answer 10

1. Thematic analysis can be extremely time - consuming
2. Researchers may struggle to know what data to focus on
3. Thematic analysis can lack validity as the data, that is collected, can be collected under uncontrolled observations

Question 11

What are the strengths of thematic analysis?

1) Type of approach
2) Flexibility for researchers
3) Validity (increase or decrease??)

Answer 11

1. Thematic analysis uses a subjective approach so the researcher is able to apply a range of theories to it
2. Thematic analysis allows researchers to have flexibility in the way they approach the data collected
3. Thematic analysis allows researchers to explore data without any preconceptions which help generate real themes and patterns which increases validity