Chapter 20: Content Analysis
Activity 20.1: Content Analysis Research Questions
Activity 20.2: Content Analysis Categories
Activity 20.3: Advantages vs. Disadvantages of Content Analysis
Activity 20.4: Do a Content Analysis
Activity 20.1:
Content Analysis Research Questions
Which of the following questions would lend themselves well to content analysis?
- Do students like school more if taught by a teacher of the same ethnicity?
- What sorts of techniques do tennis coaches use to increase the motivation of 12-year-olds to play tennis?
- Is violence on television different from violence in classical drama?
- Do boys or girls score higher on SAT examinations?
- Are women or men portrayed more favorably in 1930s movies?
- Are after-school detention programs effective?
- How do the ingredients found in recipes in 1940s cookbooks compare with those found in 1990s cookbooks?
- To what extent did capitalism develop in nineteenth-century China?
Activity 20.2:
Content Analysis Categories
What categories could be used by a researcher who wishes to do a content analysis of the following? Working with a partner, suggest some possible categories that the researcher might use in each case.
1. Coverage of minority groups in social studies textbooks
Possible categories might include:
______
______
2. How characters are portrayed in Saturday morning television cartoon programs
Possible categories might include:
______
______
3. Issues discussed in newspaper editorials
Possible categories might include:
______
______
4. Themes used in magazine advertisements
Possible categories might include:
______
______
5. Emotions presented in popular songs
Possible categories might include:
______
______
Activity 20.3:
Advantages vs. Disadvantages of Content Analysis
In the space provided in front of each of the statements listed below, write “T” if the statement is true. Write “F” if the statement is false.
1. ______Content analysis deals mainly with recorded information.
2. ______Content analysis is unobtrusive.
3. ______Content analysis is strongly influenced by the researcher’s presence.
4. ______Content analysis cannot be done with songs.
5. ______Content analysis is extremely difficult to do.
6. ______Content analysis is relatively economical compared to other research methodologies.
7. ______Content analysis data is primarily in the form of numbers.
8. ______The information needed to do a content analysis usually is readily available.
9. ______It is fairly easy to establish validity in content analysis.
10. ______Content analysis requires extensive training before one can undertake it.
Activity 20.4:
Do a Content Analysis
In this activity, you will actually do a content analysis.
A professor at a large Midwestern university is trying to decide what to do in a class entitled “Values of American Society,” which she has recently been asked to teach. One of her colleagues suggests that one way to approach the subject is to ask her students to do a content analysis of advertisements taken from various national magazines and newspapers.
The following is a sample of three advertisements that she collects. Read these over carefully. Then ask yourself what societal values are reflected in these advertisements. Decide on a few categories and tally how often each value is represented in this sample of ads. What conclusions can you suggest based on your content analysis of this brief sample?
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