Skip to main content

7 – Content Analysis

Why Should I Care?

There are obvious messages, but also hidden meanings, to media that we are exposed to every day. There is a scientific way to analyze these media content, to discover their true face.

Definitions

Content Analysis: The systematic coding of ideas, themes, images, etc. in media.

Primary Source: First-person account. From the horse’s mouth.

Secondary Source: Histories and Analysis of events based on primary sources.

Manifest Content: Obvious

Latent Content:  Between the lines

Usefulness

When people write, speak, paint, or draw, they communicate in many ways. What we read into their work depends on what we are looking for. There are degrees of understanding.

Objects of Measurement

 What is data?

Words, visual images, sounds, in audio, visual or video formats

Where is the data? 

On written documents such as books, newspapers and magazines, correspondence, email, meeting minutes, field notes.

On other documents of audio and video recordings such as documentaries, movies,  song, music videos, posters, advertisements, etc. 

Type of Object

Yes

No

Maybe

Example

Personal Characteristic

 X




Socio-Demographic Characteristic

 X




Opinion

 X




Motivations



X 


Ideology

 X




Biases / Prejudice

 X




Preferences


X 



Personal History / Background

 XX




Family Dynamics

 X




Cultural History

 X




Perception / Self-Perception



X 


Aptitude /Ability



X 


Behaviour


X 



Level of Knowledge


X 



 Sampling

The population refers to the total number of texts, or media, included into the “group” under study. The sample refers to those documents that will be studied. Hopefully, the sample is 100 percent of the population. The sampling will be purposive, given that important documents are known to stand out.

Types of Content Analysis
  1. Quantitative
    • Word Count
    • Word/Idea Weight
    • Time Count (speech)
  2. Qualitative
    • Ideologies
    • Issues
    • Rhetoric / Style
    • Chosen Medium
Instruments

Media, Documents.

Includes analyzing artwork, posters, music, lyrics, poetry, prose, political speeches and memoirs, meeting minutes, journalism and magazine publishing.

Scientific Power

Descriptive: You can associate ideas, arguments, and thoughts to people and places, but you cannot explain why things were said, or done. You can’t go back in time and do an experiment.

Steps
  1. Identify topic and population
  2. Identify sample and “loose” hypothesis
    • Identify the type and quantity of documents available
    • Identify the type of information you are looking for
    • Operational definitions
    • Set the sample size and type
  3. Identify the type of content analysis method to be used
  4. Develop the coding system.
  5. Do the counting: read, code and collate data.
  6. Analyze and Report.
Advantages
  1. Can be applied to all forms of communication
  2. Applied to explicit (manifest) and implicit (latent) content
  3. Can use qualitative or quantitative, or both
Disadvantages
  1. Sampling can be difficult
  2. Meaning is hard to code
  3. Quantitative may lose context
Reporting

Tables & Graphs

Descriptive Text

Synthesis Tables

Revue d'histoire de l'Amérique française, Institut d’histoire de l’Amérique française

Canadian Journal of History, University of Toronto Press

European Review of History: Revue européenne d'histoire, European Association of Young Historians

Journal of American History, Organization of American Historians

Preferred Disciplines

History, Political Science, Geography, Anthropology, Sociology

Other Non-scientific Disciplines

Applications in Journalism, Political Attaché, Arts, Anti-terrorism, Cinema

Less Useful For

Economists, Psychologists

Political Speech Writing Case

Here are a few examples of famous political speeches delivered in the USA.

First, Franklin D. Roosevelt gave the famous 'Day in Infamy' speech to garner support for the US involvement in World War II. The speech uses repetition (Last Night...) and demonizes the Japanese to stir patriotic sentiment. The speech was delivered over the radio, at a time when the only other means of communication was newspapers. The speech even goes on to tell Americans that their minds are already made up about the war. Audio files available on the wiki page here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_Infamy_speech.

You can listen to the audio-only here, or watch the video below. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Roosevelt_Pearl_Harbor.ogg

 

Second, the 2004 Democratic Party Convention speech by Barack Obama is arguably the most important speech he gave, effectively making him widely known to the American public for the first time. Obama is very adept at using the Anti-Thesis technique, and repetition to anchor the image of 'hope' in this speech. In this video by Thnkr, Obama speechwriters and political advisors explain the techniques used by the man who became the first Black President of the USA.

 

fdsa

 

 

 

 

 



Back to top