Hi,

Has anyone ever used content analysis? Could anyone recommend some resources I could read? Also, what is a very similar type of analysis methodology to content analysis?

It's my first time using it and I'm unsure as to exactly how it works ...

Thanks!

Chococake :)

What field are you working in? I'm in humanities and found these good starting points. I'm doing very basic content analysis so can't really give you any more advice!

Holsti, O. R. Content Analysis for the Social Sciences and Humanities. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1969.

Krippendorff, K. Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology. London: Sage, 1980.

I've not used content analysis. I have used template analysis which is basically pulling themes out of text and creating a 'template' - basically a hierarchical list of codes e.g.

1. Dog Expense
1.1 Dog Food
1.1.1 Dog treats
1.1.1.1 Chicken Dog treats
1.2 Dog Toys
1.2.1 Frisby

And so on. There is a really good website here for this http://www2.hud.ac.uk/hhs/research/template_analysis/ I think the main difference is that you (well not necessarily) don't count the codes, so there is no quantitative output. THere is an emphasis on that if something appears once in one interview, then it could be as important as something that appears 20 times across several interviews.

I have a good pdf book on qualitative methods if you want it - just PM me your email.

I think it all depends on the data you have and what you want out of it - sorry that's a bit vague! It will also depend on how accepted qualitative methods are in your field. In my field, they're treated suspiciously - my sup for example STILL wants me to count the frequency of codes, she doesn't understand that what I think is that I've only interviewed 20 people, so counting codes in my opinion is silly, as there aren't enough people to represent the population. I can see why people desparately want to say "20% of people said xyz" but it just wasn't for me!

However, I've not reall used content analysis, so there may be other differences between the two apart from the counting thing.

I agree with Pam W having used CA in my masters and now in my PhD. if you can get hold of would recommend the book -  Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology by Dr. Klaus H. Krippendorff. Think on the second edition now it is a really good book in terms how to use and the methodology. It may help you decide which method is best. They key is making sure you are really precise to start and then do inta rater reliability after the first how every many in my case was 50 to check the coding sheet and protocol you have developed. I would say depending on you data with CA for me I use it as have a large quaintly to get an overview but as I was told by my old supervisor it gives me a skeleton but need something else to make the body.

It is a fairly easy method to teach your self if you are systematic

good luck
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