contentanalysis

= = =Content Analysis=

Content Analysis is a research tool that is used to determine the presence of certain words or concepts within texts or sets of texts. It is the study of communication content such as books, websites, paintings, and laws (Earl Babbie). Researchers quantify and analyze the meaning and relationships of words, and concepts that are presented not just through conversation but also through various communications and texts. Researchers question and try to define the meanings and relationships of words, concepts, and make inferences about the messages within the texts, the writers, the audeince, and even the culture and time of which these occurrences take part. Texts can vary from a wide spectrum from books, interviews, essays, newspaper headlines and articles, speeches, daily conversation, documents, advertising, and basically any occurrence of communicative language. Content Analysis is " any technique for making inferences by objectively and systematically identifying specified characteristics of messages." (Ole Holsti). To make it simple, content analysis is a research tool that analyze the connotative values within certain words, texts, and any type of communication.
 * Introduction**

Content analysis can be applied to examine any piece of writing or occurrence of recorded communication. Essentialy, the method of content analysis enables the researcher to include large array of textual information and systematically identify its properties. Due to the fact that it can be applied to examine any piece of writing or occurrence of recorded communication, content analysis is currently used in a wide variety of fields, ranging from marketing and media studies, to literature and rhetoric, ethnography and cultural studies, gender and age issues, cognitive sceince, and many other fileds of inquiry. Further yet, it also reflects a close relationship wtih socio and psycholingustics, and is playing an integral role in the development of artifical intelligence. Today, content analysis has become an increasingly importamnt tool in the measurement of success in public/media relations programs and the assessment of media profiles. Content analysis has become an element of media evaluation or media analysis. Every content analysis should originate from a hypothesis because only be doing so can we analyze what messages are incurred in communication. Hypothesis gives us space to improve and verify our theory, and by doing so we determine what it is that is emphasized in media studies, communication, and study itself.
 * Description**

Key questions to think about when analysing content (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_analysis#The_process_of_a_content_analysis) Click on the following link, to check up on the three categories in which Ole Holsti has categorized content analysis
 * Process of Content Analysis**
 * make inferences about the antecedents of a communication
 * Describe and make inferences about characteristics of a communication
 * make inferences about the effects of a communication.

The assumption is that words and phrases mentioned most often are those reflecting important concerns in every communication. Therefore quantitative content analysis beings by looking and focusing on word frequencies, space measurements (column centimeters/inches in the case of newspapers), time counts (radio, television) and keyword frequencies. Qualitatively, content analysis can involve any kind of analysis where communication content (speech, written text, interviews, images etc.) is categorized and classified. During the end of the 19th century, analysis was done manually by measuring the number of lines and amount of space given a subject. Thanks to advance technology, common computing facilities like PCs, computer-based methods of analysis are growing in popularity. Answers to open ended questions, newspaper articles, political party polls, medical records or systematic observations in experiments can all be subject to systematic analysis of textual data. By having contents of communication available in form of machine readable texts, the input is analysed for frequencies and coded into categories for building up references. Historically, content analysis was a time consuming process. Analysis was done manually, or slow mainframe computers were used to analyze punch cards containing data punched in by human coders. Many single studies utilized thousands of these cards. However, human error and time constratin made research impratical. Despite how inefficiency content analysis was already a fast and growing research method in the 1940's
 * Six questions must be addressed in every content analysis, Dr. Klaus Krippendorff**
 * 1) Which data are analyzed?
 * 2) How are they defined?
 * 3) What is the population from which they are drawn?
 * 4) What is the context relative to which the data are analyzed?
 * 5) What are the boundaries of the analysis?
 * 6) What is the target of the inferences?

Conceptual: Is based on the frequency frequency of concepts i.e. words and phrases Reflection: Examines relationship of context in text
 * Types of Content Analysis**


 * Why conduct a content analysis?**
 * Reveal international differences in communication content
 * Detect the existence of propaganda
 * Identify the intentions, focus or communication trends of an individual, group or institution
 * Describe attitudinal and behavioral responses to communications
 * Determine psychological or emotional state of persons or groups

For further detail of the process of content analysis please refer to flow chart: http://academic.csuohio.edu/kneuendorf/content/resources/flowc.htm

1) Neuendorf A. Kimberly. "A flowchart for the Typical Process of Content Analysis Reserach" Content Analysis Guidebook. http://academic.csuohio.edu/kneuendorf/content/resources/flowc.htm 2) "Content Analysis" Wikipedia. 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_analysis 3) "Writing Guides. Content Analysis" Colorado State University. 2006. http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/research/content/ 4) "History of Content Analysis." Colorado State University. 2006. http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/research/content/com2a1.cfm
 * References:**