Content analysis
Definition
Content analysis is a family of qualitative data analysis methods.
“Content analysis (sometimes called textual analysis when dealing exclusively with text) is a standard methodology in the social sciences for studying the content of communication. Earl Babbie defines it as "the study of recorded human communications, such as books, websites, paintings and laws." Harold Lasswell formulated the core questions of content analysis: "Who says what, to whom, why, to what extent and with what effect?." Ole Holsti (1969) offers a broad definition of content analysis as "any technique for making inferences by objectively and systematically identifying specified characteristics of messages."” (Wikipedia, retrieved nov 1 2007)
See also: Computer assisted qualitative research analysis software
Links
General qualitative methodology indexes
- The Qualitative Report (both a journal and an index)
- QualPage by Judy Norris. Very good site (traditional academic build)
- The qualitative Research Page by Bobbi Kerlin, also maintains the Qualitative ResearchWebring
- Grounded Theory Methodology Karl "Chuck B." Freiherr von Manteuffel ...
- Qualnet, in particular Qualitative Research Resources
- Action Research Sources (by Bob Dick, Southern Cross University)
Slides
- Daniel K. Schneider once made some slides for a crash course on research design in educational technology PDF (ok for starters, but would need some extra work). See the chapter on qualitative data analysis.
References
- Rourke, L., Anderson, T., Garrison, D. R., & Archer, W. (2001). Methodological Issues in the Content Analysis of Computer Conference Transcripts. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, 12(1), 8-22. PDF