RM - Content analysis and Case studies

Question 1

Coding

Answer 1

The process of placing quantitative or qualitative data in categories.

Question 2

Content analysis

Answer 2

A kind of observational study in which behaviour is usually observed indirectly in visual, written or verbal material. May involve either qualitative or quantitative analysis or both.

Question 3

Thematic analysis

Answer 3

A technique used when analysing qualitative data, Themes or categories are identified and then data is organised according to these themes.

Question 4

How is the process of content analysis different to any other observational study?

Answer 4

Instead of observing actual people, a researcher usually makes observations indirectly through books, films, advertisements and photographs - any artefact people have produced.

Question 5

What does the researcher have to make design decisions about in content analysis?

Answer 5

Sampling method, coding the data, and method of representing data.

Question 6

What does the researcher have to decide about the design of the sampling method?

Answer 6

• If the analysing the content of books, does the researcher look at every page or just, say, every fifth page (a kind of time sampling)?
• If comparing the content in various books, does the researcher select books randomly from a library or identify certain characteristics (e.g. look at books that are biographies or romantic fiction)?
• If analysing ads on TV, does the researcher sample behaviours, say, every 30s, and not whenever certain behaviours occur?

Question 7

What does the researcher have to decide about the design of coding the data?

Answer 7

Decisions about behavioural categories may involve a thematic analysis.

Question 8

What does the process of coding mean in content analysis?

Answer 8

That the researcher uses behavioural categories.

Question 9

What does the researcher have to decide about the design of the method of presenting data?

Answer 9

Data can be recorded in each behavioural category in 2 different ways:

You can count instances = a quantitative analysis.
You can describe examples in each category = a qualitative analysis.

Question 10

What are the strengths of content analysis?

Answer 10

• High ecological validity because it is based on observations of what people actually do (real communications that are current and relevant, such as recent newspapers or the books that people read).
• Reliability can be tested as sources can be retained or accessed by others (e.g. back copies of magazines or videos of people giving speeches), the content analysis can be replicated, and therefore the observations can be tested for reliability.

Question 11

What are the weaknesses of content analysis?

Answer 11

• Observer bias reduces the objectivity and validity of findings because different observers may interpret the meaning of the behavioural categories differently.
• Likely to be culture biased because interpretation of verbal or written content will be affected by the language and culture of the observer and the behavioural categories used.

Question 12

Who did a study using a quantitative content analysis?

Answer 12

Anthony Manstead and Caroline McCulloch (1981).

Question 13

What did Anthony Manstead and Caroline McCulloch (1981) do a study using?

Answer 13

A quantitative content analysis.

Question 14

Describe the study done by Anthony Manstead and Caroline McCulloch (1981) using a quantitative content analysis.

Answer 14

They were interested in the way men and women are portrayed in TV ads.

They observed 170 ads over a one-week period, ignoring those that contained only children or those with animals.

In each ad they focused on the central adult figure and recorded frequencies in a table.

For each ad there might be no ticks, one tick or a number of ticks.

Question 15

What table did the study done by Anthony Manstead and Caroline McCulloch (1981) using a quantitative content analysis include?

Answer 15

A separate column for male and female.

Four main headings with subheadings which were characteristics to be ticked.

Credibility basis of central character:
- Product user
- Product authority
Role of central character:
- Dependent role
- Independent role
Argument spoken by central character:
- Factual
- Opinion
Product type used by central character
- Food/drink
- Alcohol
- Body
- Household

Question 16

What was the study done by Anthony Manstead and Caroline McCulloch (1981) using a quantitative content analysis interested in?

Answer 16

The way men and women are portrayed in TV ads.

Question 17

Who did a study using a qualitative content analysis?

Answer 17

Katja Joronen and Paivi Astedt-Kurki (2005)

Question 18

What did Katja Joronen and Paivi Astedt-Kurki (2005) do a study using?

Answer 18

A qualitative content analysis.

Question 19

Describe the study done by Katja Joronen and Paivi Astedt-Kurki (2005) using a qualitative content analysis.

Answer 19

A Finnish study considered the role of the family in adolescents’ peer and school experiences.

They conducted semi-structured interviews with 19 adolescents aged 12-16, using questions such as ‘What does your family know about yours peers?’ and ‘How is your family involved in your school activities?’

These interviews produced 234 pages of notes which were analysed using a qualitative content analysis.

1. All answers to the same question were placed together.
2. Each statement was compressed into a briefer statement and given an identifier code.
3. These statements were compared with each other and categorised so that statements with similar content were placed together and a category (or theme) identified.
4. The categories were grouped into larger units, producing eight main categories; for example:
   - Enablement, e.g. ‘Yeah, ever since my childhood we’ve always had lots of kids over visiting.’ (Girl 15 years)
   - Support, e.g. ‘They [family members] help if I have a test by asking questions.’ (Boy, 13 years)
   - Negligence, e.g. ‘My sister is not at all interested in my friends.’ (Girl, 16 years)

One of the conclusions drawn from this study is that schools should pay more attention to the multiple relationships that determine an adolescent’s behaviour.

Question 20

What was the study done by Katja Joronen and Paivi Astedt-Kurki (2005) using a qualitative content analysis interested in?

Answer 20

A Finnish study considered the role of the family in adolescents’ peer and school experiences.

Question 21

What conclusions were drawn from the study done by Katja Joronen and Paivi Astedt-Kurki (2005) using a qualitative content analysis?

Answer 21

One of the conclusions drawn from this study is that schools should pay more attention to the multiple relationships that determine an adolescent’s behaviour.

Question 22

What is one problem with qualitative data?

Answer 22

It is difficult to summarise.

Question 23

Why is quantitative data better than qualitative data?

Answer 23

It can be readily summarised with measures of central tendency and measures of dispersion, and also with the use of graphs.

Question 24

How is qualitative data summarised?

Answer 24

By identifying repeated themes in the material to be analysed.

Question 25

What material might be analysed using thematic analysis?

Answer 25

Might be a book, advertisements on TV or the transcript from interviews, or a researcher might wish to analyse videotaped play sessions with children.

Question 26

Why is thematic analysis a very lengthy process?

Answer 26

Because it is ainstaking and iterative - every item is carefully considered and the data are gone through repeatedly.

Question 27

What are the main intentions of thematic analysis?

Answer 27

• To impose some kind of order on the data.
• To ensure that the ‘order’ represents the ppts perspective, i.e. fits in with how they see the phenomenon.
• To ensure that this ‘order’ emerges from the data rather than any preconceptions.
• To summarise that data so that hundreds of pages of text or hours of videotapes can be reduced.
• To enable themes to be identified and general conclusions drawn.

Question 28

What is the general procedure for thematic analysis?

Answer 28

There is no one method to use, bit the following gives a general picture of what is done.

1. Read and reread the data transcript dispassionately (or do the same with a video), trying to understand the meaning communicated and the perspective of the ppts. No notes should be made.
2. Break the data into meaningful units - small bits of text which are independently able to convey meaning. This might be equivalent to sentences or phrases.
3. Assign a label or code to each unit. Such labels/codes are the initial categories that you are using. You will have developed some ideas when initially reviewing through the data in step 1. Each unit may be given more than one code/label.
4. Combine simple codes into larger categories/themes and then instances can be counted or examples provided.
5. A check can be made on the emergent categories by collecting a new set of data and applying the categories. They should fit the new data well if they represent the topic area investigated.

Question 29

Case study

Answer 29

A research method that involves a detailed study of a single individual, institution or event. Case studies provide a rich record of human experience but are hard to generalise from.

Question 30

What are case studies an example of?

Answer 30

Evidence-based research.

Question 31

Why do psychologists turn to individual case studies?

Answer 31

Partly to look at unusual behaviours, and partly to look in greater detail at any kind of behaviour.

Question 32

What do case studies aim to use?

Answer 32

Objective and systematic methods.

Question 33

Where to case studies use information from?

Answer 33

A range of sources, such as from the person concerned and also from their family and friends.

Question 34

What techniques may be used in case studies?

Answer 34

• The people may be interviewed or they might be observed while engaged in daily life.
• Psychologists might use IQ tests or personality tests or some other kind of questionnaire to produce psychological data about the target person or group of people.
• They may use the experimental method to test what the target person/group can’t do.

Question 35

What is the information gathered for case studies organised into?

Answer 35

Themes to represent the individual’s thoughts, emotions, experiences and abilities.

Question 36

How is data presented in case studies?

Answer 36

May be presented in a qualitative way, though quantitative data may also be included, such as scores from psychological tests.

Question 37

What word describes what case studies generally are like?

Answer 37

Longitudinal - they follow an individual or group over an extended period of time.

Question 38

What was the case study of Henry Molaison (HM)?

Answer 38

His hippocampus was removed to reduce epileptic seizures, resulting in an inability to form new memories (Hilts, 1995).

Question 39

What case study other than the study of HM concerned memory?

Answer 39

Clive Wearing, whose memory was damaged by an infection (his wife’s account: Wearing 2005).

Question 40

What was the case study done by Freud on Little Hans done to illustrate?

Answer 40

To illustrate the principles of psychoanalysis, Freud 1909.

Question 41

Why is Watson’s study of Little Albert not a case study?

Answer 41

Because it was not a detailed record of the individual - just arecord of several classical conditioning trials (Watson and Rayner, 1920).

Question 42

What was the case study of a teenage addict?

Answer 42

Mark Griffiths (1993) sought to gain greater understanding of fruit machine addiction through the in-depth study of one individual. Data was collected through interviews with ‘David’, aged 18, and his mother.

Initially David’s parents put his problems down r=to adolescence. Once when his mother followed him discreetly, she saw that he went into an amusement arcade. It seemed he was just occupied with ‘harmless fun’. The his mother and sister began to find money missing. The more rows David had with his parents, the more he shut himself away.

Why did he continue? ‘I always got the feeling of being “high” or “stoned”… Although winning money was the first thing that attracted me to playing fruit machines, this gradually converted to light, sounds and excitement.’ Such information offers different insights into behaviour than just looking at quantitative data about addiction.

Question 43

What was the case of Phineas Gage?

Answer 43

In 1848 Phineas was working on the construction of the American railway. An explosion of dynamite drove a tamping iron right through his skull.

He survived and was able to function fairly normally, showing people that people can live despite the loss of large amounts of brain matter.

However, the accident may have affected Phineas’ personality. A record was kept of events in the rest of his life and people he knew were interviewed. After the accident his friends said he was no longer the same man, though more recent analyses have concluded that such changes were temporary.

This case was important in the development of brain surgery to remove tumours because it showed that parts of the brain could be removed without having a fatal effect.

Question 44

What are the strengths of case studies?

Answer 44

• The method offers rich, in-depth data information which can provide new insights into the complex interaction of many factors, in contrast with experiments where variables are held constant. This means that insights overlooked using other methods may be identified.
• Case studies can be used to investigate instances of human behaviour and experiences that are rare, for example investigating cases of children locked in a room during their childhood (Case study of Genie, e.g. Rymer, 1993). Such cases enable researchers to see what effects disruption of attachment has on emotional development. It would not be ethical to generate such conditions experimentally.

Question 45

What are the limitations of case studies?

Answer 45

• It is difficult to generalise from individual cases. Each one has unique characteristics. For example, the case study of HM told us a great deal about the effects of his operation on his memory, but we don’t know to what extent his epilepsy rather than the brain damage may have affected aspects of his behaviour.
• There are important ethical issues such as confidentiality and informed consent. Many cases are easily identifiable because of their unique characteristics, even when real names are not given. Individuals, such as HM or Little Hans, are not able or not asked to give informed consent.
• Psychological harm may also be an issue when an individual such as HM is tested repeatedly over decades.

Question 46

What studies have been done on the events of mob behaviour during the London riots in 2011?

Answer 46

Psychologists have always been interested in mob behaviour, so this case of the London riots provided an opportunity to re-examine some of the explanations for the apparently unruly behaviour of ‘mobs’.

One study was produced by Steve Reicher and Clifford Stott (2011), where they argued that their data showed that mob behaviour was not unruly. Mobs ‘don’t simply go wild but actually tend to target particular shops and particular types of people. The patterns of what they attack and don’t attack reveals something about the way they see the world and their grievances about the world’ (Furlong, 2011).

Question 47

What studies have been done on the events of mass suicide of a cult group?

Answer 47

The study of obedience includes the behaviour of cult groups, such as the People’s Temple Full Gospel Church led by the charismatic Jim Jones. He convinced members of his congregation to give him all of their money and property. He eventually came to see himself as a god, and demanded that everyone else see him as one too. If people refused, they were publicly humiliated and even beaten.

The US government began to have serious questions about the conduct of the church, so Jones moved it to South America in the 1970s, where he created Jonestown. However, he became more paranoid and eventually ordered his 900 followers, including children, to commit suicide by drinking a combination of poison mixed with Kool-aid.

The case study was used to reflect on social processes in groups and the effect of leaders - both conformity and obedience.