Teaching Content Analysis through "Harry Potter"

Author(s): Adam M. Messinger

Source: Teaching Sociology , OCTOBER 2012, Vol. 40, No. 4 (OCTOBER 2012), pp. 360-367
Published by: American Sociological Association

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41725519

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Teaching Note
AĚA
AERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION

Teaching Sociology
40(4) 360-367
Teaching Content Analysis ©American Sociological Association 2012
DOI: 1 0.1 177/0092055X12445461

through Harry Potter http://ts.sagepub.com

USAGE

Adam M. Messinger1

Abstract

Content analysis is a valuable research tool for social scientists that unfortunately can prove challenging
to teach to undergraduate students. Published classroom exercises designed to teach content analysi
have thus far been predominantly envisioned as lengthy projects for upper-level courses. A brief an
engaging exercise may be more beneficial for introductory social science courses in which less time
can be allotted to any one topic, such as content analysis. With this in mind, this article presen
a highly engaging and temporally compact classroom exercise designed to teach introductory soc
science students about content analysis. In the exercise, students are guided through a content analy
of the music in Harry Potter films. An evaluation study suggests that the exercise improves studen
understanding of content analysis and that students find it both highly helpful and enjoyable.

Keywords
classroom-based exercises, qualitative methods, sociological research

Introductory social science courses typically expose analysis project in which students analyze Harry
undergraduate students to a suite of research meth- Potter film music. In addition, a quasi-experimental
ods. This serves both to begin training the next classroom evaluation study illustrates the effective-
generation of researchers and to help students ness of this exercise.

understand how social science knowledge is shaped

by the methods used to acquire it. Content analysis
is one of the more challenging research methods to
teach. Teachers often lament that students have dif-
ficulty grasping qualitative analysis in general (e.g.,
Blank 2004; Clark and Lang 2002; Hood 2006),
and, piling on this confusion, content analysis exists
in a gray area that is neither distinctly qualitative nor
quantitative (see Dougherty 2005; Krippendorff
2004). One possible solution for teachers is to have
their classes engage in the complete content analysis
process, from a literature review, to study design,
sampling, coding, and finally, theory development
(for example, see Carpenter 2009; Finley 2004;
Papademas 1983; Taylor 2003). While this is viable
for specialized courses using a content analysis to
illustrate a point, introductory courses require a
compact approach to leave time for other pressing
topics. With this in mind, the present article intro-
duces a temporally compact, engaging content
DEFINING CONTENT ANALYSIS
Content analysis is conceptually straightforward:
It is the study of social artifacts (human creations,
such as books, laws, art, and media). Highly
detailed data from social artifacts (e.g., a book) can
be made more manageable to analyze by selecting
a small, random sample of units within the social
artifact (e.g., randomly sampled chapters from
the book). These data are then coded (divided
into categories), a process that typically involves
counting the frequency of and/or comparing the
'Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago, IL, USA
Corresponding Author:
Adam M. Messinger, Northeastern Illinois University,
Justice Studies Department, 5500 North St. Louis Ave.,
Lech Walesa Hall, Room 4062, Chicago, IL 60625
Email: amess002@gmail.com

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 Mess/nger 36 1

co-occurrence of
a short take-home assignment catego
to a content analysis
develop his students conducted on gender
theories stereotypes in
induct
patterns children's
in the books. To enhance adoptability of such(Fo
data.
tion of content analysi
exercises for introductory social science courses, the
see Krippendorff 2004; Neuendorf 2002.) ideal content analysis project could be even briefer,
Understandably, it may be harder for students to as many core sociology textbooks - and in turn,
visualize content analysis than other research most likely, many sociology teachers - devote only
methods they have encountered more frequently in a handful of paragraphs to teach this concept.
their everyday lives, such as survey research.

Why Harry Potter?

Teaching Content Analysis
In designing a temporally brief, highly engaging
This may be a topic that students will grasp best content analysis exercise for lower-level social sci-
when going beyond a textbook by actually per- ence courses (e.g., Introduction to Sociology,
forming a content analysis. However, the type of Methodology, etc.), Harry Potter film music is an
course being taught in part determines the best excellent data source for three key reasons: This
format of such a content analysis student project. data source should be an appealing and therefore
In the case of a specialized course, students could memorable data source for students, its reliance on
conduct a content analysis on the course's main musical rules lends itself to coding, and a social
topic, thereby justifying an extension of the level science research goal can be illustrated.
of detail and time required for the project. For Regarding the first point, a memorable data
example, in line with the core purpose of her source has the potential to make an exercise more
Introduction to Criminal Justice course, Finley impactful for students. Not surprisingly, engaging
(2004) dedicated three weeks to a student content students through movie-related exercises has a rich
analysis of film, television, and music portrayals of tradition in the social sciences (e.g., Berg 1992;
the various types of players in the criminal justice Demerath 1981; Finley 2004), as do exercises
system, and then students compared these public focusing on music (e.g., Ahlkvist 1999; Albers and
personas with more realistic data. Likewise, Bach 2003; Armstrong 2001; Walczak and Reuter
Papademas (1983) dedicated an entire semester of 1994). The Harry Potter franchise's overwhelming
his Sociology of Communications and Media popularity makes it a particularly ideal data source:
course to a mixed-methods content analysis on the More than 400 million of the books have been sold
mass media. In reflecting on the success of the worldwide (BBC 2008), and not adjusting for
project, Papedemas (1983:394) aptly noted, "Done inflation, the movies based on the books represent
well, the context/content analysis projects are the highest-grossing film series ever (Box Office
time-consuming both in and out of class, some- Mojo 2011). The Harry Potter book-movie fran-
times taking time away from other teaching chise has been employed in classroom exercises to
modes." Indeed, the full process of content analy- teach students about a wide range of topics, such as
sis projects - from literature reviews to data selec- forensic science (Palmer 2010), political science
tion, sampling, coding (possibly iteratively), and (Deets 2009), copyright infringement (Striphas
data analysis - can be quite time-consuming, but 2009), the empirical use of reflexive journals
this may be acceptable in topic-specific courses (Gerstl-Pepin and Patrizio 2009), underage drink-
wherein the content analysis illustrates a core ing (Welsh 2007), and linear modeling (McShea,
course concept. Vogel, and Yarnevich 2005).
It is less feasible to allot so much time to cover- Beyond its potential for making an exercise
ing content analysis in an introductory-level course more memorable, Harry Potter film music also
where many other topics still need to be addressed. employs composition rules that lend themselves
In an example striking a balance between detail and well to coding. The composer of the music for the
temporal brevity, in his Introduction to Sociology first three Harry Potter films, John Williams, is
course, Taylor (2003) devoted one class period and one of the most accomplished, award-winning

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 362 Teaching Sociology 40(4)

Hollywood scheduled of
composers class meeting
all time. To decrease
time (The the In
Movie Database possibility
2011). of perceived
His coercion on in
success the part
part
from the music rules he uses to aid in a film's sto- of students, I required that the instructors leave
rytelling. For example, as Webster (2009) noted, the room for the duration of the exercise. I orally
among many other techniques used in the early introduced the study's purpose to the students
Harry Potter films, Williams regularly employed (to conduct the exercise with them and test its
(1) visual-matching music (music that closely mir- effectiveness through two brief questionnaires),
rors and therefore emphasizes movements on theafter which I distributed consent forms. Of the
screen), (2) dialogue rules (music is either mute or 59 total students in attendance at these two classes,
soft during character script lines to make them audi- 49 were at least 1 8 years of age and consented to
ble), (3) leitmotifs (musically reoccurring themesparticipate.
usually attached to a certain character or idea; see
Darby and Du Bois 1999), and (4) music rule break-
ing (breaching a previously established music rule,
Study Design
such as the above, so as to emphasize another rule).Pretest questionnaires given to students included
Students may be able to treat these first three tech- closed-ended items on gender, year in college,
niques as coding categories for a "music type" vari- whether they are majoring or intending to major
able, and they can then discern when and why the in sociology, whether they have taken a research
fourth technique, rule breaking, occurs. methodology course before, their likelihood of
Last, a content analysis of this data source can taking research methods courses in the future
illustrate the use of this method in the service of (ranging from 1 = very unlikely to 6 = very likely ),
achieving a social science research goal. Specifi- and their level of understanding of qualitative
cally, students can employ content analysis to analysis, content analysis, social artifacts, and
illuminate the types of national and gender stereo- coding (ranging from 1 = very unfamiliar to
types displayed by the Harry Potter film music. 6 = very familiar). After collection of the pretest
These findings have particular social science rele- questionnaires, the exercise (detailed below)
vance, given that cultural norms can shape the was conducted for 30 to 35 minutes, and then
creation of films as well as socialize media con-
posttest questionnaires were distributed that,
sumers (Dowd 1999; Hoeckner et al. 2011). It is
through closed-ended questions, inquired about
the respondents' interest in taking future research
with these points in mind that I designed a content
analysis classroom exercise. methods courses and their familiarity with quali-
tative analysis, content analysis, social artifacts,
and coding. Posttest questionnaires also asked
THE HARRY POTTER CONTENT
how enjoyable it was to participate in the exercise
ANALYSIS EXERCISE (ranging from 1 = not at all enjoyable to 6 = very
In addition to detailing the content analysis enjoyable ), how helpful the exercise was in add-
exercise, this section also reports on a quasi-ing to their knowledge of content analysis (rang-
experimental classroom evaluation study of the ing from 1 = very unhelpful to 6 = very helpful ),
exercise. and whether they would recommend this exercise
for other courses.

Given that some professors may wish to pro-

Sampling vide additional content analysis practice for their
In 2010, at a New York City four-year college, students, an optional extension of the exercise
with the approval of its institutional review board, that takes approximately 30 to 40 minutes is also
I contacted faculty members teaching sections of discussed in this article. However, in light of the
Introduction to Sociology. After receiving permis- previously stated importance of brevity for class
sion from two instructors - neither of whom exercises in introductory social science courses,
had yet taught research methods and content analy-the posttest questionnaire was distributed after
sis to their students - I met their students in completion of the main exercise, and the exten-
sion was excluded from evaluation.
their classroom in the second half of a regularly

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 Messinger 363

Harry Potter &

* Scene One *

EVENT: MUSIC TYPE (Circle One Per Number)

1 . Opening Theme Fits Quiet

2. Scene Setting Theme Fits Quiet
3. Dumbledore Walking Theme Fits Quiet
4. Snatching Lamplights Theme Fits Quiet
5. Dialogue 1 Theme Fits Quiet
6. Cat Shape-Shifts Theme Fits Quiet
7. Dialogue 2 Theme Fits Quiet
8. Flying Motorcycle Theme Fits Quiet
9. Dialogue 3 Theme Fits Quiet
10. Dialogue 4 + Carrying Baby Theme Fits Quiet

Figure I . Coding sheet for Harry Potter content analysis exercise

The Exercise
power of movie music, distributing th
sheet,was
Between questionnaires, the exercise andcon-
providing instructions on its
ducted, which began with a five-minute lecturefive minutes. We then wat
approximately
four-minute
defining qualitative analysis, content opening scene of the movie
analysis,
social artifacts, and coding. I thenthe viewing,
explained I notified the students whe
that
reached
we were going to conduct a content theon
analysis next
a event so that they were
to listen
scene from a Harry Potter film. I briefly to the music and to circle the ap
explained
music
how music can play an important role type on their sheet. To remind them
in support-
ing the visual storytelling in a movie, but the
goal, for film
first several events, I provid
with prompting by asking, "Are we hea
music is often consumed almost subconsciously.
Content analysis is an excellent tooltheme, musicthe
to uncover that fits the actions on the
messages of such music. I then handedquiet music?"
out a cod-
The first 15 seconds
ing sheet vertically listing labels representing the(00:00 to 00:15), which is
when the
10 segment "events" in the first scene ofWarner
the Bros,
filmlogo appears, is labeled on
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer s Stone
the coding(Columbus
sheet as "Opening," the first event. This
is where
200 1 ), and horizontally displayed next toweeach
first hear
seg-the theme music. To ensure

that the"fits,"
ment were three music types: "theme," respondents
andrecognize this music type later
"quiet" (see Figure 1). To help the on
students
in the scene,recog-
I pointed out that we were listening
nize the three music types, I hummed for
to the theme andthem
that they should circle this next to
the sheet
what I termed theme on the coding first event, "Opening." The "Scene Setting"
(which
event (00:16
John Williams calls "Hedwig's Theme" andtois
00:35)
theinvolves an owl sitting on
main theme of all of the Harry Potter
the Privetfilms);
Drive sign Iin the dark and then flying
described how at other times, music
aroundwill fit
a dark, the
misty, forested, suburban area while
listening
action on the screen, which I labeled to eerie
as fits on music
the involving what sounds like
chimes.
coding sheet, and at times the music will While
be the music
low in is certainly quieter in this
volume, which I labeled on the coding sheet
event than in as
the opening, it is still quite noticea-
ble, and furthermore,
quiet. I then instructed the respondents to circlethe music's eeriness matches
the eerie
one music type for each event in the filmvisuals on the Iscreen; thus, the music here
scene
was about to play. Discussing the
fitssubconscious
the visual actions. The "Dumbledore Walking"

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 364 Teaching Sociology 40(4)

event (00:36 to 00:51) involves

when Hagrid the wizard
flies in on his motorcycle and the
ledore walking around
wizards walk the dark
to the Dursleys' frontsuburb
door while
music that
slowlytalking).
and repeatedly
Despite ascend
the presence of visual actions and
dialogue, the two previously
descends in pitch, suggesting established music lik
movement
ing - again, music that
rules fits
were broken the
to play the theme.visual acti
In noting this,
the "Snatching I asked the students what
Lamplights" eventis distinct about these
(00:52 to 0
Dumbledore sucks two events
the that might
balls of explain this. The connection
light from t
urban lampposts into a baby
is that the handheld magical
is present in those events, and in
with an ascending thatrush
situation, all of chimes
other music and
rules are ignored
accompanying each while the theme is played.
lamplight he Subconsciously,
takes; this this
again, fits the visual
signals actions.
to the audience thatWhen
this baby is impor-
Dumb
stops to speak to atantcat
- indeed,in
because"Dialogue 1" (0
the baby is none other than
01:26), the music Harry
gets Potter.so quiet
This discussion as
of their to
results be
lasted
nonexistent; this should be
approximately 10 labeled
minutes. on the
sheet as quiet. The To reaffirm
cat their understanding of into
shape-shifts these studythe
Professor McGonagall
results, wein the
watched "Catscene
the four-minute Shape-
again.
event (01:27 to 01:37), with
Last, I ended ascending
the exercise inst
discussing with them the
tal and choral music process
in the it took to create the coding sheet they
background were
that f
size increase and supernatural
provided with (taking approximately actions
five min- o
screen. Dumbledore and
utes). In Professor
particular, McGo
I talked about how qualitative
have a discussion data"Dialogue
in are so detailed that unless
2"one(01
knows exactly
:38 to
and just as in "Dialogue 1 ,"
what one is looking forthe music
in advance (e.g., the num-is q
the "Flying Motorcycle" event
ber of times characters (02:04
say "Harry Potter"), one to
Hagrid's flying motorcycle appears
needs to begin by looking for any pattern from
at all. To t
and lands in front find
of thesethe two
three eventual musicwizards,
types, I explained, ca
what we will soon learn is a
I began by breaking the baby; the
scene down into mus
events or
is the same theme periods
we and then in
hear listed the
the music"Opening"
type in each
There is another discussion that occurs in "Dia- event. I initially found 10 distinct types of music,
logue 3" (02:24 to 02:43), for which the musicwhich
is were then merged into fewer, similar cate-
gories. (As a simple example, I merged events in
quiet. Now Hagrid hands the baby to Dumbledore,
which the theme was played, irrespective of
and Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall carry
the baby to the doorstep of the Dursleys' home
whether the theme was played loudly or quietly).
This iterative coding process (sometimes referred
while continuing their discussion (02:44 to 04:04);
to as grounded theory method) allows one to con-
the music, although faint, is distinctly the theme.
We then collectively discussed the students'
struct variables and, ultimately, to test hypotheses
or develop theories out of highly complex, qualita-
answers on the coding sheet. For each event, after
tive
reminding them what happened in that scene, I data. To help students understand coding
polled the class on their answers. We attemptedbeyond
to content analysis, I suggested that a very
arrive at a mutually agreed-upon resolution for similar
any iterative coding process can be used for
other types of qualitative analysis, such as when
disagreements. Finally, we discussed what conclu-
trying to make sense of lengthy, typed interview
sions we could draw from these data. Specifically,
I asked them in what types of events does John
transcripts. Not including the time spent on recruit-
ment, consent, and data collection, the exercise
Williams use music that "fits" the scene (answer:
generally when nondialogue actions occur) and
itself took approximately 30 to 35 minutes.
why (to emphasize the visual actions), and when
does he use "quiet" music (when dialogue occurs)
and why (to enable the audience to better hear the
Supplemental Exercise Extension
dialogue). I also asked when does he use the
If time permits, instructors may wish to add an
optional extension of the exercise that both can
"theme" (beyond the Warner Brothers logo, only

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 Mess/nger 365

highlight Harry Potter) invisible

the use and to enhance
of the stigma
con
social and discrimination
science of minority groups
goal and (e.g.,
an Beauxbaton and Durmstrang to
opportunity students). It is recom-
prac
egories. mended that an additional 30 tocompl
After 40 minutes of

described exercise,
class stu
time be reserved for this supplemental exer-
scene cise extension.
(16:55 to 19:12)
Goblet of Fire (Newe
Potter's wizard school,
RESULTS
the "lovely ladies from
of Magic" Given
andthe decreased power
thefrom the small sample
"pr
students from what are alluded to as all-female size, and given the study's focus on temporal
French and all-male Eastern European wizard changes for outcome measures, only descriptive
statistics and bivariate analyses are reported
schools. Either in small student groups or collec-
tively as a class, students could break the scene
regarding the evaluation study. Of the 49 students
surveyed, two-thirds were female; most were
down into events (e.g., by camera cuts). The vari-
sophomores (60 percent) or freshmen (24 percent),
ous music types heard can be listed and iteratively
with few juniors or seniors (16 percent); only one
combined into broader music-type categories (e.g.,
student had declared as a sociology major, and
military march vs. romantic period, use of percus-
only two had taken a research methods course.
sion, music pace, the diegetic utterances of "huh"
and "ahh" by the visiting students during the
On the key measures of student learning, after
music, etc.). After several film scene viewings,
completing the exercise, respondents self-reported
students should be guided in a discussion regard-
greater familiarity with the concepts of qualitative
analysis (Time 1 [Tl], M= 2.31; Time 2 [T2], M =
ing the ways in which gender is made salient in
4.22), social artifacts (Tl, M= 2.21; T2, M= 3.88),
this scene both visually and musically, with the
coding (Tl, M = 1.81; T2, M = 3.82), and content
Beauxbaton students being painted as hyperfemi-
analysis (Tl, M = 2.19; T2, M = 4.22). For the
nine, Durmstrang students as hypermasculine, and
both sets of students as objects of the heterosexual
most part, therefore, self-reported familiarity with
romantic gaze (Webster 2009). content analysis and its component concepts
increased from unfamiliar (coded as 2) to some-
Thus, for these foreign-born students viewed as
what familiar (coded as 4). The exercise did not
"others" within the context of the largely white,
affect students' interest level in taking research
British environment of Hogwarts, their minority
methods courses in the future (Tl, M = 3.51; T2,
status appears to be made musically visible, not
M= 3.58). However, in answering 4 or higher on a
necessarily through emphasizing their national ori-
gin but through emphasizing their abnormally
measure ranging from 1 to 6, 71 percent of stu-
dents reported that the exercise was helpful in
extreme gender performances. By comparison, the
learning content analysis (. M = 4.19), and 74 per-
theme music associated with Harry's white, Brit-
ish, male character - as illustrated in the scenecent of students found the exercise enjoyable ( M =
watched for the first part of the exercise - does not4.22). Only one student did not recommend the
exercise for future courses.
allude to Harry's gender, thereby reinforcing his
insider status. In many respects, this pattern
reflects the research literature on the invisibility of
DISCUSSION
privilege. Scholars have posited that dominant
As with all studies, this evaluation is not without
demographic groups often appear to lack a gender,
limitations. In particular, the small sample size
race, ethnicity, class, and sexual orientation - they
limits generalizability. Relatedly, the small sample
are just human beings. Conversely, minority demo-
graphic groups often view themselves and are
size precluded the possibility of a control group in
which only the initial lecture was provided; how-
viewed by others in terms of their minority status
(Lucal 1996). This can serve simultaneously to
ever, the exercise was specifically designed to
render the privilege of dominant groups (e.g.,
include the initial minilecture because without it,

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 366 Teaching Sociology 40(4)

the video-based exercise would lack context and against Women in Rap Music, 1987-1993." Journal
of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture 8(2) : 96-
purpose. Additionally, students were not asked to
126.
write out descriptions of concepts in part because
BBC. 2008. "Rowling 'Makes £5 Every Second.'"
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Box Office Mojo. 201 1. "Worldwide Grosses." Retrieved
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Clark, Roger and Angela Lang. 2002. "Balancing
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NOTE Gerstl-Pepin, Cynthia and Kami Patrizio. 2009. "Learn-
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