Here are the key steps I would take to design a content analysis study to examine portrayals of poor people in the media: 1. Define the unit of analysis (e.g. individual characters, news stories). 2. Develop coding categories to capture portrayals, such as employment status, living conditions, family status, behaviors, speech, etc. 3. Sample relevant media (e.g. TV shows, movies, news articles) 4. Have multiple coders analyze the content and record which categories are present for each unit of analysis. 5. Analyze frequencies of different categories to see how poor people are commonly depicted. Look for trends and overrepresentations of certain attributes. This would

1. Content Analysis

2. What is Content Analysis?
• Content Analysis
– a technique that enables researchers to study human behavior
through an analysis of communications.
• Types of communications are:
• Textbooks
• Essays
• Pictures
• Songs
• Movies
• Signs
• A person or group’s conscious and unconscious beliefs,
attitudes, or values are often revealed in their
communication.

3. Applications of Content Analysis in
Educational Research
• Critical Incident Inquiry
• Describing trends in schooling over time
• Questioning patterns in the classroom
• Interaction patterns in the classroom
• How different schools handle the same phenomena
differently
• Inferring attitudes, values, and cultural patterns in different
schools/countries

4. • Content analysis
• Gender biases in the classrooms ( latent and manifest)
• Weihtage of federal and provincial aspects in textbooks
• Thinking skills imbalances in the text books.
• Figure of speech in the poetry textbooks ( latent and
manifest)
• Physical, emotional and social characteristics of women
shown in Social Studies textbooks ( latent and manifest)
• Timelines shown in history textbooks ( latent and
manifest)
• Experimental questions given in science textbooks
• Environmental education in overall curriculum ( latent and
manifest)

5. Categorization in Content Analysis
• All procedures at some point convert the
descriptive information into categories.
• There are two ways this might be done
• The researcher determines the categories before any
analysis begins. These categories are based on previous
knowledge, theory, and experience.
• The researcher becomes very familiar with the
descriptive information collected and allows the
categories to emerge as the analysis continues.
– i.e., grounded theory.

6. Steps Involved in Content Analysis
• Determine objectives by obtaining information
on the following:
– Formulate themes for organization
– Check other research findings for validation
– Obtain information useful in dealing with educational problems
– Investigate possible relationships to test hypothesis
• Define Terms
– Clearly define terms before or during the study
• Specify the Unit of Analysis

7. Steps Involved in Content Analysis
• Locate Relevant Data
• Develop a Rationale
• Conceptual link needed to relate data to the objectives
• Develop a Sampling Plan
• Techniques could involve:
» Random sample ( songs, movies , textbooks)
» Stratified sampling ( school board policies)
» Cluster sampling ( minutes of the meetings, curriculum
guides)
» Convenience sampling (action research)
• Formulate Coding Categories

8. Steps Involved in Content Analysis
• Checking Reliability and Validity
• Test-retest method
• Analyze Data
• Counting
• Use descriptive statistical procedures such as
frequencies and/or percentages

11. Sample Tally Sheet
Number Number Number
Newspaper of Editorials Subjective of Pro-Abortion of Anti-Abortion
ID Number Location Circulation Coded Evaluationa Editorials Editorials
101 A 3,000,000 29 3 0 1
102 B 675,000 21 3 1 1
103 C 425,000 33 4 2 0
104 D 1,000,000 40 1 0 8
105 E 550,000 34 5 7 0
aCategories within the subjective evaluation: 1 = very conservative; 2 = somewhat conservative; 3 = middle-of-the-road; 4
= moderately liberal; 5 = very liberal.

12. iases Explanation Male Female Tota
l
nguistic
ender bias
Masculine terms and pronouns are
used to refer to all people
132 out of
200 teachers
said yes
224 out of
300 teachers
said yes
356
said
yes
visibility Females and people of color are
underrepresented
137 out of
200 teachers
said yes
252 out of
300 teachers
said yes
389
said
yes
tereotyping Boys are shown in active roles
while girls are shown in passive
roles
162 out of
200 teachers
said yes
264 out of
300 teachers
said yes
426
said
yes
mbalance Only one aspect of an issue is
presented
166 out of
200 teachers
said yes
233 out of
300 teachers
said yes
399
said
yes
nreality Unrealistic picture of modern life 165 out of
200 teachers
said yes
234 out of
300 teachers
said yes
399
said
yes

13. S. No. Subjects
Total No. of
chap/units
Chapter covering the
topic of environment
Sub Headings
Total No. of
pages
pp No.EE Percent
1 Physics (class X) April, 2013 19 Nil Nil 434 Nil 0
2 Mathematics (class X) April,
2013
15 Nil Nil 480 Nil 0
3 Sindhi (class X) April, 2013 30 Nil Nil 176 Nil 0
4 Islamiyat (class X) April, 2013 25 Nil Nil 170 Nil 0
5 English (class X) April, 2013 26 lessons and
poems
Nil Nil 98 Nil 0
Total percentage of EE 0
Table 3: Content analysis of the curricula
of class 10th regarding EE

14. S. No Subject
Total No.of
chap/units
Chapter covering topic on
EE
Sub Headings
Total No. of
pages
P. No.
EE
%
1 Biology (class IX)
April, 2012
19 Ch-18 Enviro- Biology
Ch-19 Man and Biology
Ecology, Green House Effect,
Pollution, Global Warming
364 313 -
364
14.3
2 Computer (IX) 8 Nil Nil 106 Nil 0
3 Chemistry (class IX)
March, 2013
18 Ch-1 simple definition of
Environmental Chemistry
No any other topic related to
environment is included in whole book
of 18 chapters.
361 06,196-
197
0.6
4 Urdu (comp)
Sindhi (comp) class IX
18 lessons and 18
poems
Nil Nil 176 Nil 0
5 Eng-I (comp)
March 2013
20 lessons and poems Nil Nil 111 Nil 0
6 Pakistan Studies (comp)
IX
March, 2013
10 Ch-4 Land and Climate of
Pakistan
Influence of climate on life, Kinds of
Environmental Pollution (air, water,
land)
168 63 - 66 2.4
Total percentage 17.3
Table 2: Content Analysis of the Curricula of Class Ninth Regarding EE

15. Advantages of Content Analysis
• The following are considered advantages of
Content Analysis:
– Unobtrusive
– Useful means of analyzing interview and
observational data
– Not limited by time and space to the study of
present events
– Relatively simple and economical.

16. Disadvantages of Content Analysis
• The following are considered disadvantages of
Content Analysis:
– Usually limited to recorded information
– Establishing validity
• Question remains as to the true meaning of the categories
themselves
– Historical research findings might not be considered
important today
– Temptation to attribute a cause of a phenomenon vs.
a reflection of it

17. Discussion
• Let’s say we wanted to test the belief that
poor people are inaccurately and
stereotypically portrayed in the media.
Describe how you would design a content
analysis to study the question. What
coding categories do you anticipate?