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1. CONTENT ANALYSIS
(Quantitative Research Methods)
Huma Malik
LIS Professional
April 2014

2. CONTENTS
Definition
Content Analysis Concepts
Goals of Content Analysis
What is analysed in Contents/data?
Steps in Data Analysis
The Constant Comparative Method
Conclusion
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3. Definition
3

4. Definition-1
The ALA Glossary of Library and Information Science
defines Content Analysis as …
“Analysis of the manifest and latent content of a
body of communicated material (as a book or
film) through a classification, tabulation, and
evaluation of its key symbols and themes in
order to ascertain its meaning and probable
effect.”
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5. Definition-2
It is a research tool or technique that help to
analyze the actual content and it is features
of any kind , whether it was a word, picture,
themes, text , and try to present the content in
objective and quantitative manner.
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6. Content Analysis Concepts
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7. Content Analysis Concepts
 It is one of the most commonly used data
analysis techniques.
 It is applied in qualitative, quantitative, and
mixed-methods studies.
 It “uses a set of procedures to make valid
inferences from text. These inferences are
about …
–the sender(s) of the message,
–the message itself, or
–the audience of the message.”
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8. Cont… (Content Analysis Concepts)
 Content analysis is based on the principle that the
many words from interviews, observations
and documents can be reduced to, or organized
into, categories in which words or word units
(e.g., paragraphs) share the same central
meaning.
 Content analysis is used in large number of
fields, ranging from marketing and media studies,
to literature , rhetoric, information studies, library
& information science, sociology and political
science, psychology science, as well as other
fields of inquiry.
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9. Goals of Content Analysis
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10. Goals of Content Analysis
To reduce large amounts of unstructured
content.
To describe characteristics of the content
To identify important aspects of the content.
To present important aspects of the content
clearly and effectively.
To support of some argument.
To examine trends and relationships in the text
and multimedia produced or used in the fields
context to provide an insight into it.
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11. Goals of Content Analysis
To identify the intentions, focus or
communication trends of an individual, group
or institution.
To describe attitudinal and behavioral
responses to communications
To determine psychological or emotional state
of persons or groups.
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12. What is analysed in
Contents/data?
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13. What is analysed in Contents/data?
1. Cohesion
– i.e. grammar and vocabulary within a text or sentence
that holds a text together and gives it meaning.
2. Intentionality
– i.e. what the writer or speaker of the text intends to
convey meaning related to his attitude and purpose.
3. Acceptability
– recipients of the message understand the text as a
message; they expect it to be useful or relevant.
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14. Cont… (What is analysed?)
4. Informatively
– The text may contain new or expected information,
allowing for judgments about its quality of informing.
5. Situationality
– The situation surrounding the text affects its production
and determines what is appropriate for the situation and
the culture.
6. Inter-textuality
– The text is often related to what precedes and follows it,
as in a conversation (one interpretation of intertextuality), OR
– is related to other similar texts, for example, others within
a genre, such as transcripts of chat sessions (another meaning of
intertextuality) 14

15. Steps in Data Analysis
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16. Steps in Data Analysis
Steps in Data analysis involves …
working with data,
organizing it,
breaking it into manageable units,
synthesizing it,
searching for patterns,
discovering what is important and
what is to be learned, and
deciding what you will tell others.
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17. The Constant Comparative
Method of Content Analysis
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18. The Constant Comparative Method of
Content Analysis
 It is one of the most effective means of
qualitative content analysis.
 It involves joint coding and analysis during
the continual review of data to gradually form
categories.
 This method is designed to guarantee that two
analysts working independently with the same
data will achieve the same results.
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19. The constant comparative method is described
in four stages:
1) comparing incidents applicable to each
category,
2) integrating categories and their properties,
3) delimiting the theory, and
4) writing the theory.
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Cont… (Constant Comparative Method)

20.  Comparative analysis can be used to generate
substantive theory and formal theory.
−Substantive theory refers to specific areas,
such as OPAC use and Internet search
strategies.
−Formal theory refers to conceptual areas,
such as information-seeking patterns and
relevance criteria.
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Cont… (Constant Comparative Method)

21. Conclusion
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22. Content analysis is essentially a systematic
analysis of the occurrence of words, phrases,
concepts, and so on in books, films, and other
kinds of materials.
This method is designed to guarantee that two
analysts working independently with the same
data will achieve the same results.
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Conclusion

23. Connaway, Lynn Silipigni and Powell, Ronald R. (2010). Basic research
methods for librarians (5th ed.). California: Libraries Unlimited.
Eibeed, Essam, Dr. (2011). ‘Content Analysis’. Lecture at Academy for
Educational Development on Nov 16, 2011 retrieved from
http://www.slideshare.net/eibeed/content-analysis-10187392
Jupp, Victor (ed.). (2006). The Sage Dictionary of Social Research Methods.
London: Sage Publications.
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References