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Do you want to learn about the content of something written or said about any subject? Do you want to analyze comments about your business or organization? Then, what will help you in this qualitative research is content analysis. With content analysis, you can find common patterns and themes in the content and turn them into actionable insights.
You can ask what these themes and patterns are. They can be recurring words, phrases, or concepts. Content analysis makes it easier for you to find them with the help of many useful programs and tools. Now, if you want to learn more, you can continue the article.
What is the content analysis?
Content analysis is a research technique used to identify patterns and themes of textual, audio, or visual material.
Focusing on communication, it tries to reveal the underlying meanings of messages. It achieves this by dividing themes into specific categories with a coding system. Due to the nature of content analysis, it can be used in many different fields, from sociology to finance, from media to psychology.
Content analysis types
Content analysis can be used with a wide variety of research methods. The infrastructure of the analysis varies depending on the purpose of the research topic and the nature of the data. In this section, what is most commonly done with content analysis will be explained.
Types of content analysis
1. Conventional (traditional) analysis
The traditional process, which is the most basic type of content analysis, is done without any presuppositions, categories, or coding. The data itself is expected to reveal existing themes and patterns. The main reason for choosing this method is that the research question is broad and open-ended. With this flexibility provided by analysis, it is possible to perform an exploratory analysis.
2. Directed analysis
This method, which you can also call the deductive method, is carried out by pre-determining the data to be examined in the analysis according to certain theoretical frameworks and coding categories. This analysis process continues by creating an examination path and following that path. The aim is to test any hypothesis or directly address the research question. Thus, theories turn into practice and provide important information about the relevant research.
3. Summative analysis
Summative analysis is used to measure all trends, patterns, and relationships in the content with a quantitative method. Frequently used elements that form the identity of the content are determined. This analysis seeks the answer to the research question with predefined coding. It is possible to use it to systematically examine the distribution of content in data with large-scale samples.
Examples of the content analysis
This section presents examples of content analysis from different research areas. These examples will help you better carry out your work and better understand the purpose of content analysis.
Example #1 Political Science
You conducted content analysis to compare politicians' election speeches in terms of their content. In general, you came across common themes such as welfare, freedom, democracy, and progress in the speeches. However, you conducted a qualitative analysis to make sure that the underlying meanings of these words were the same for each speaker. As a result, it turns out that politicians refer to different concepts even though they use the same concepts.
Example #2 Marketing
As a business, you try to review customer comments about your newly opened branch. You collected data through social media, complaint boxes, interviews, and surveys. Then, you segmented your customers' texts. By revealing pattern relationships, you have seen that customer satisfaction is high. Thus, the analysis has shown you that your work is in order.
Methods of the content analysis
Quantitative or qualitative methodologies are used to perform content analysis. These two methods can be used more dominantly or in combination with each other in different research areas. You can look at these in more detail below.
1. Qualitative content analysis
It is used to find and interpret the underlying meanings of a text or speech. It is more faithful to people's narratives and provides rich insights by examining their opinions and thoughts in more detail. That's why many different disciplines follow a qualitative research method. You can continue your research in more detail with other qualitative methods, such as narrative analysis.
2. Quantitative content analysis
Quantitative analysis is used when the research focus is specific. With the coding categories, the researcher's hypothesis is ready. That's why they take a deductive approach. This method is often considered shallow because it focuses on the apparent meaning. Statistically, it finds repeating patterns in any textual data. Thus, differences and similarities between texts or speakers become evident.
Advantages and Disadvantages of content analysis
Content analysis is an application that has its pros and cons, like every research method. Here, its important advantages and disadvantages will be shared with you. This way, you will have a better understanding of whether this analysis is suitable for you.
Advantages
- It allows for both qualitative and quantitative data analysis.
- It is a versatile method applicable to diverse materials and contexts
- It is a direct method to study communication.
- The analysis process is not expensive.
- It can be applied to many different disciplines.
Disadvantages
- Qualitative results may be subject to error due to subjective interpretation.
- It may be time-consuming due to the large number of datasets.
- Although it is a simple method, it requires coding knowledge.
- Factors in communication that are not or cannot be transferred to the transcript (tone of voice, body language, emphasis, pausing) are often ignored.
- When an overly reductive approach is taken, it gives shallow results.
When to use the content analysis
Content analysis is an effective and comprehensive method that can be used in many different areas. Therefore, the question of when you can use it depends on the field you are interested in and what the questions of your research are aimed at. Here you can see when you might need it more:
- Doing an exploratory research
- Comparing different sources and content
- Uncovering past trends, themes, and concepts
- Revealing differences and similarities between micro or macro cultures
Content analysis vs. Thematic analysis
Content and thematic analysis are data analysis methods that are very close to each other and can even be confused. But they differ from each other because they have small nuances. These differences and similarities can be listed as follows.
- Both types of analysis can be used to examine qualitative data.
- Content analysis is prone to quantitative methods, but it is rare in thematic analysis.
- Both reveal theme and pattern relationships.
- While thematic analysis focuses on personal language use, content analysis focuses on social and cultural language use.
- Content analysis tends to use the deductive method, while thematic analysis tends to use the inductive method.
Frequently asked questions about the content analysis
You can take a look at frequently asked questions to get information about content analysis from different perspectives and expand your knowledge.
Por ejemplo, está examinando un documento escrito. Este documento podría ser una transcripción de comentarios en las redes sociales sobre un nuevo producto. Intentas encontrar palabras que se repitan en estos comentarios.
Verás que las palabras y frases que más destacan son "me gusta", "genial", "funciona bien", "bonito" y "entrega". Así, la primera parte del análisis está terminada. A continuación, al dibujar un árbol de patrones a partir de estos comentarios, llegas a la conclusión de que el producto gusta debido a la intensa explicación del contenido.
El análisis de contenido es un tipo de análisis utilizado con fines de investigación primaria. Esto se debe a que el análisis de contenido no trabaja sobre datos existentes, sino que crea conjuntos de datos examinando directamente textos, imágenes y vídeos.
Aunque el análisis de contenido es proclive al análisis cualitativo de datos, también admite el análisis cuantitativo de datos. Dependiendo de la finalidad y el método de su investigación, puede elegir cualquiera de ellos. Cuando realiza un análisis cualitativo, puede descubrir significados y patrones en un texto.
Puedes encontrar las diferencias entre los significados y el mensaje que se quiere transmitir. En cambio, con el análisis cuantitativo, revelas la frecuencia de estos patrones y su repetición en la narración.
Con el método de análisis de contenido se pueden examinar materiales educativos y revelar métodos y normas de enseñanza eficaces. Para ello, primero hay que determinar qué tipo de enfoque tiene el aprendizaje. Por ejemplo, aprender inglés para hacer negocios en el Reino Unido y aprender matemáticas para aprobar exámenes no son los mismos objetivos. A continuación, se pueden desarrollar códigos y crear categorías adecuadas para estos fines.
Estas categorías podrían incluir la dificultad de aprendizaje, las horas de clase, el diseño del plan de estudios, la comunicación con el alumno, etc. A continuación, se crea una base de datos recopilando todo el material educativo relacionado con la asignatura en cuestión. Se inicia el análisis colocando los códigos. Al final, los patrones y tendencias que surjan le darán pistas sobre cómo mejorar los métodos de enseñanza.
El sistema de análisis de contenidos consiste en procesos consecutivos de recogida y análisis de datos. Lo primero que hay que hacer es recoger los datos objetivo con las herramientas adecuadas (pueden ser programas informáticos, dispositivos de grabación o documentos). A continuación, comienza el proceso de codificación. Para comprender el contenido de los datos, se establece un esquema de codificación con códigos creados de antemano (o posteriormente, según el otro método). Para ello existen herramientas y programas de codificación adecuados.
A continuación, se descubren las frecuencias o significados de los temas y patrones en función de si se realiza un análisis cuantitativo o cualitativo. Por último, se visualizan los resultados y se elabora un informe.
Los tres tipos de análisis de contenido son el convencional, el dirigido y el sumativo. Estas denominaciones pueden variar, pero basta con saber que existen diferencias entre ellos.
1. El análisis de contenido convencional se utiliza para examinar las características visibles de los datos sin códigos ni acciones predeterminados.
2. El análisis de contenido dirigido se utiliza para probar y revelar cualquier teoría sobre el contenido relevante.
3. Por último, el análisis de contenido sumativo se utiliza para cuantificar valores numéricos o frecuencias en los datos.
El análisis de contenido se utiliza en ciencias sociales, especialmente en el contexto de la comunicación y la cultura. Se utiliza para comprender la esencia y la estructura del contenido examinando cualquier expresión visual, sonora o escrita. Las fuentes de recopilación de datos sociológicos son bastante amplias: van desde periódicos a mensajes en redes sociales, desde revistas a anuncios, y desde discursos políticos a documentos históricos.
Así pues, cuando los investigadores quieren examinar diferentes dimensiones culturales, tienen a su disposición una gran cantidad de datos. A continuación, se examinan estos datos y se obtienen importantes resultados sobre las estructuras sociales y la dinámica de la sociedad.
El análisis de contenido es un método utilizado en la investigación psicológica para comprender de forma más exhaustiva cualquier fenómeno psicológico. Trata de comprender los sentimientos, pensamientos, actitudes, acciones y creencias de una persona o personas examinando los documentos escritos, hablados o dibujados por ellas mismas.
En estos documentos se buscan patrones de contenido y significados ocultos. De este modo, se pueden desarrollar diagnósticos y métodos de tratamiento adecuados al conocer los procesos psicológicos por los que atraviesa la persona o personas.
Ambos son métodos que pueden utilizarse para examinar datos cualitativos. Sin embargo, el análisis de contenido difiere del análisis temático porque permite examinar datos cuantitativos. Sin embargo, ambos se centran en descubrir temas y patrones comunes en un contexto determinado.
Key points to take away
All in all, content analysis is a powerful tool for many different areas of research. That's why this article aims to provide you with a detailed description of content analysis. Starting with its definition and then progressing to its three different types. Then, the topic is reinforced by giving examples from political science and marketing.
Qualitative and quantitative methods are explained, and the pros and cons are listed. Lastly, when it should be used and its difference from thematic analysis are explained under separate headings.
Atakan is a content writer at forms.app. He likes to research various fields like history, sociology, and psychology. He knows English and Korean. His expertise lies in data analysis, data types, and methods.
Índice de Contenidos
- What is the content analysis?
- Content analysis types
- Examples of the content analysis
- Methods of the content analysis
- Advantages and Disadvantages of content analysis
- When to use the content analysis
- Content analysis vs. Thematic analysis
- Frequently asked questions about the content analysis
- Key points to take away
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