content analysis

Question 1

what does content analysis involve ?

Answer 1

• involves analysing the content of a source of information
  ( interview, medical records, police records, school records )

Question 2

what is content analysis ?

Answer 2

• a method used to analyse qualitative data (non-numerical)
• you analyse the content of the source of info and look for patterns
• turns qualitiative data into quantifiable data

Question 3

on what kind of data is content analysis usually carried out on ?

Answer 3

secondary data (data already published )

Question 4

what do researchers do when peforming content analysis?

Answer 4

-analyse the content of the source of info
- look for patterns
- quantify and analyse the info
- they make inferences about messages within the media

Question 5

to conduct a content analysis, what must happen to the media ?

Answer 5

• the media is coded or broken down into manageable categories for example words, phrases, themes and then examined and quantified

Question 6

strengths of content analysis

Answer 6

• it can circumnavigate many of the ethical issues normally associate with psychological research
• much of the material that is analysed may already exist within the public domain so there are no issues with obtaining permission to use the info
• still has benefit of high external validity

Question 7

limitations of content analysis

Answer 7

• people tend to be studied indirectly so the communication they produce is usually analysed outside of the context in which it occurred
• the researcher may turn subjective, especially when forms of thematic analysis is employed