Content analysis
Why did Warde sample food magazines from four different months in the year?
Because there weren’t enough food adverts in the first two magazines
To take into account any seasonal variation in the recipes included in the magazines
To find information from more than one form of mass media communication
Because he couldn’t decide which of the recipes were the most appetizing
To take into account any seasonal variation in the recipes included in the magazines
Remembering that this is a quantitative method, it can be interesting to see frequencies of utterances in texts in different time periods. When sampling dates for content analysis, it is advised to make your sample as representative as possible, so that you can generalise your findings to other similar texts. In this case, Warde (1997, cited on page 288-289) did not select a random, probability sample of dates in the year, but he did choose magazines from one month in each of the four seasons. This was to reduce any sample bias that might have resulted from the types of recipes included in the magazines at particular times in the year, such as Christmas.
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 288, 289
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 288, 289
To take into account any seasonal variation in the recipes included in the magazines Remembering that this is a quantitative method, it can be interesting to see frequencies of utterances in texts in different time periods. When sampling dates for content analysis, it is advised to make your sample as representative as possible, so that you can generalise your findings to other similar texts. In this case, Warde (1997, cited on page 288-289) did not select a random, probability sample of dates in the year, but he did choose magazines from one month in each of the four seasons. This was to reduce any sample bias that might have resulted from the types of recipes included in the magazines at particular times in the year, such as Christmas.
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 288, 289
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 288, 289
Related posts
Which of the following is not an example of a ‘unit of analysis’?A. Validity
B. significant actors
C. Words
D. subjects and themes
The data from each row in a coding schedule can be entered into a quantitative analysis computer program called:
A. Endnote
B. N-Vivo
C. Outlook
D. SPSS
The purpose of a coding manual is to:
A. Provide a form onto which the data can be entered
B. Provide researchers with instructions about how to code the data
C. List all the categories that have been omitted from the schedule
D. Test researchers’ knowledge of statistics
If coders differed in their interpretations of the categories in the schedule, this could negatively affect the data’s:
A. Internal generalisability
B. Intra-interviewer reliability
C. Construct validity
D. Inter-coder reliability
Which of the following could be subjected to a textual content analysis?
A. Interview transcripts
B. Newspaper articles
C. Song lyrics
D. All of the above
Quantitative content analysis is an approach that aims to:
A. Objectively and systematically measure the content of a text
B. Reach an interpretive understanding of social action
C. Engage in a critical dialogue about ethical issues in research
D. Provide a feminist alternative to ‘male-stream’ quantitative methods
Why might a researcher want to count the frequency of certain words in a text?
A. It increases the reliability of the coding measures
B. It is a good way of finding out about the journalist’s favourite words
C. Emotive words can be used excessively to provoke a moral panic
D. It shows which words are most common in the English language
Leave a Reply