Content Analysis

Introduction
Content analysis is a 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." Content analysis is also considered a scholarly
methodology in the humanities by which texts are studied as to authorship, authenticity, or
meaning.
Harold Lasswell formulated the core questions of content analysis: "Who says what, to
whom, why, to what extent and with what effect?." Ole Holsti offers a broad definition of
content analysis as "any technique for making inferences by objectively and systematically
identifying specified characteristics of messages."
Content analysis is a summarising, quantitative analysis of messages that relies on the
scientific method and is not limited as to the types of variables that may be measured or the
context in which the messages are created or presented.
History of content analysis
In its beginnings, using the first newspapers at the end of 19th century, analysis was done
manually by measuring the number of lines and amount of space given a subject. With the rise of
common computing facilities like PCs, computer-based methods of analysis are growing in
popularity.
The process of a content analysis
According to Dr. Klaus Krippendorff (1980 and 2004), six questions must be addressed in every
content analysis:
1.Which data are analysed?
2.How are they defined?
3.What is the population from which they are drawn?
4.What is the context relative to which the data are analyzed?
5.What are the boundaries of the analysis?
6.What is the target of the inferences?
Quantitative Analysis
Therefore, quantitative content analysis starts with word frequencies, space
measurements (column centimeters/inches in the case of newspapers), time counts (for radio and
television time) and keyword frequencies.
Qualitative Analysis
 Qualitatively, content analysis can involve any kind of analysis where communication
content (speech, written text, interviews, images ...) is categorized and classified.
Types of Content Analysis
There are two general categories of content analysis: conceptual analysis and relational
analysis.

• Conceptual analysis can be thought of as establishing the existence and frequency of

concepts in a text.

• Relational analysis builds on conceptual analysis by examining the relationships among

concepts in a text.
Uses of content analysis
Due to the fact that it can be applied to examine any piece of writing or occurrence of
recorded communication, content analysis is used in large number of fields, ranging from
marketing and media studies, to literature and rhetoric, ethnography and cultural studies, gender
and age issues, sociology and political science, psychology and cognitive science, as well as
other fields of inquiry. Additionally, content analysis reflects a close relationship with socio- and
psycholinguistics, and is playing an integral role in the development of artificial intelligence. The
following list (adapted from Berelson, 1952) offers more possibilities for the uses of content
analysis:

• Reveal international differences in communication content

• Detect the existence of propaganda

• Identify the intentions, focus or communication trends of an individual, group or

institution

• Describe attitudinal and behavioral responses to communications

• Determine psychological or emotional state of persons or groups

Ole Holsti (1969) groups uses of content analysis into three basic categories:

• make inferences about the antecedents of a communication

• describe and make inferences about characteristics of a communication

• make inferences about the effects of a communication.

Advantages of Content Analysis

• looks directly at communication via texts or transcripts, and hence gets at the central
aspect of social interaction

• can allow for both quantitative and qualitative operations

 • can provides valuable historical/cultural insights over time through analysis of texts
Disadvantages of Content Analysis

• can be extremely time consuming

• is subject to increased error, particularly when relational analysis is used to attain a

higher level of interpretation

• is inherently reductive, particularly when dealing with complex texts

Cross Cultural Studies
Introduction
Cross-cultural studies, sometimes called Holocultural Studies, is a specialization in anthropology
and sister sciences (sociology, psychology, economics, political science) that uses field data from
many societies to examine the scope of human behavior and test hypotheses about human
behavior and culture.
Unlike comparative studies, which examines similar characteristics of a few societies, cross-
cultural studies uses a sufficiently large sample so that statistical analysis can be made to show
relationships or lack or relationships between the traits in question. These studies are surveys of
ethnographic data. Cross-cultural studies has been used by social scientists of many disciplines,
particularly cultural anthropology and psychology.
History of cross-cultural studies
The first cross-cultural studies were carried out by AbuRayhan Biruni, who wrote detailed
comparative studies on the anthropology of religions, peoples and cultures in the Middle East,
Mediterranean and especially the Indian subcontinent. He presented his findings with objectivity
and neutrality using cross-cultural comparisons.

REFERENCES
Wikipedia. (2011). Content analysis. Retrieved March 08, 2011, from,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_analysis
Wikipedia. (2011). Cross cultural studies. Retrieved March 08, 2011, from,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-cultural_studies
Palmquist, M. (1980). Content analysis. Retrieved March 08, 2011, from,
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~palmquis/courses/content.html