The method is popular with mass media researchers because it is an efficient way to investigate the content of the media, such as the number and types of commercials or advertisements in broadcasting or the print media. Beginning researchers will find content analysis a valuable tool in answering many mass media questions. The first example of content analysis was probably an examination of 90 hymns published in Sweden in 1743.

1. 
 Construction of Media message
 Consumption of Media message
 Effects of Media messages
Construction of Media message
10/14/2022
Muhammad Awais
(facebook.com/awwaiis)

2. 
 The method is popular with mass media researchers
because it is an efficient way to investigate the
content of the media, such as the number and types
of commercials or advertisements in broadcasting or
the print media. Beginning researchers will find
content analysis a valuable tool in answering many
mass media questions. The first example of content
analysis was probably an examination of 90 hymns
published in Sweden in 1743.
10/14/2022
Muhammad Awais
(facebook.com/awwaiis)

3. 
 Modern content analysis can be traced back to World
War II, when Allied intelligence units painstakingly
monitored the number and types of popular songs
played on European radio stations. By comparing
the music played on German stations with that on
other stations in occupied Europe, the Allies were
able to measure with some degree of certainty the
changes in troop concentration.
10/14/2022
Muhammad Awais
(facebook.com/awwaiis)

4. 
 Content analysis. After the war, researchers used content
analysis to study propaganda in newspapers and radio.
In 1952, Bernard Berelson published Content Analysis in
Communication Research, which signaled that the
technique had gained recognition as a tool for media
scholars. Since that time, content analysis has become a
popular research technique.
 It is found that about 25% of the 1,977 full-length research
articles published in Journalism and Mass
Communication Quarterly from 1971 to 1995 were content
analyses.
10/14/2022
Muhammad Awais
(facebook.com/awwaiis)

5. 
 Another study revealed that content analysis was the
most popular data-gathering method reported in major
mass communication journals between 1995 and 1999.
 An informal content analysis of three journals that focus
on mass communication research (Journal of Broadcasting
& Electronic Media, Journalism and Mass
Communication Quarterly, and Mass Communication
and Society) from 2007 to 2008 found that content analysis
was still a popular method, used in about one-third of all
published articles.
10/14/2022
Muhammad Awais
(facebook.com/awwaiis)

6. 
 Content analysis is a method of studying and
analyzing communication in a systematic, objective,
and quantitative manner for the purpose of
measuring variables.
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What is Content Analysis
Muhammad Awais
(facebook.com/awwaiis)

7. 
 First, content analysis is systematic. This means that the content to
be analyzed is selected according to explicit and consistently
applied rules:
 Sample selection must follow proper procedures, and each item
must have an equal chance of being included in the analysis.
 Moreover, the evaluation process must be systematic:
 All content under consideration is to be treated in exactly the same
manner.
 There must be uniformity in the coding and analysis procedures
and in the length of time coders are exposed to the material.
 Systematic evaluation simply means that one and only one set of
guidelines is used for evaluation throughout the study. Alternating
procedures in an analysis is a sure way to confound the results.
10/14/2022
Muhammad Awais
(facebook.com/awwaiis)

8. 
 Second, content analysis is objective;
 that is, the researcher’s personal idiosyncrasies and biases should not enter
into the findings.
 The analysis should yield the same results if another researcher replicates
the study.
 Operational definitions and rules for the classification of variables should
be explicit and comprehensive so that other researchers who repeat the
process will arrive at the same decisions.
 Unless a clear set of criteria and procedures is established that fully
explains the sampling and categorization methods, the researcher does not
meet the requirement of objectivity and the reliability of the results may be
called into question.
 Perfect objectivity, however, is seldom achieved in a content analysis.
 The specification of the unit of analysis and the precise makeup and
definition of relevant categories are areas in which individual researchers
must exercise subjective choice.
10/14/2022
Muhammad Awais
(facebook.com/awwaiis)

9. 
 Third, content analysis is quantitative.
 The goal of content analysis is an accurate representation of a
body of messages.
 Quantification is important in fulfilling that objective because it
aids researchers in the quest for precision.
 The statement “Seventy percent of all prime-time programs
contain at least one act of violence” is more precise than “Most
shows are violent.”
 Additionally, quantification allows researchers to summarize
results and to report them succinctly.
 If measurements are made over intervals of time, comparisons
of the numerical data from one time period to another can help
simplify and standardize the evaluation procedure.
 Finally, quantification gives researchers additional statistical
tools that can aid in interpretation and analysis.
10/14/2022
Muhammad Awais
(facebook.com/awwaiis)

10. 
 However, quantification should not blind the researcher
to other ways of assessing the potential impact or effects
of the content.
 The fact that some item or behavior was the most
frequently occurring element in a body of content does
not necessarily make that element the most important.
 For example, a content analysis of the news coverage of
the conflict in the Middle East in 2006–2009 might disclose
that 70% of the coverage showed nonviolent scenes. Yet,
the other 30% that contained violence might have been so
powerful and so sensational that their impact on the
audience was far greater than the nonviolent coverage.
10/14/2022
Muhammad Awais
(facebook.com/awwaiis)