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Content Analysis 225 traditional or transformative therapeutic contexts. oriented constructivist approaches due to the circu- Action- interventions include enlightening larity of language and problems of unbounded cases of co-constructed dynamics of change. Here, reflexivity. Beyond knowledge production, the the role of the researcher’s, teacher’s, or therapist’s broad consideration of formative processes can subjectivity and personal creativity in the active make the construction metaphor difficult to distin- constructing of scientific realities, and how this guish from other perspectives with which it shares subjectivity should be taken into account from a affinities (interpretivism, poststructuralism, critical methodological point of view, are considered. qualitative inquiry). For instance, social construc- Sociocultural traditions are concerned with tionists influenced by critical developments in local, conversational, and discursive practices con- anthropology have increasingly recognized the poli- stituting the construction and maintenance of tics of field work relations—between researcher social norms, concepts, and categories (e.g., sub- and subjects, subjects and other subjects, between jectivity, gender, culture, identity, institutions, devi- researchers, and in wider social contexts because of ance) as well as scientific factual knowledge, the inseparability of power and knowledge. explanation, and argumentation. Ethnographic research in of scientific knowledge pro- Garance Maréchal duced case studies of scientific knowledge produc- See also Epistemology; Ontology; Philosophy of Science; tion in laboratories, while conversation and Reality; Reflexivity; ; Subjectivism discourse analyses investigated the rhetorics of factual or the politics of scientific consen- sus and authority. In , social construc- Further Readings tionist approaches demonstrated the cultural situatedness and discursive texture of traditionally Delanty, G. (2005). : Philosophical and universal concepts like or . methodological foundations. Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press. More generally, experimental writing incorporat- Friedman, L. (1999). Why is reality a troubling concept? ing co- and practical authorship, self-reflexive Journal of the American Psychoanalytical Association, deconstruction of narrative traditions, and a diver- 47(2), 410–425. sity of styles and forms of representation have been Gaukroger, S. W. (1976). Bachelard and the problem of encouraged. epistemological analysis. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 7(3), 189–244. Critical Summary Miller, G., & Fox, K. J. (1999). Learning from sociological practice: The case of applied Constructivism eschews belief in an absolute foun- constructionism. American Sociologist, 30(1), 54–73. dation of human knowledge and ascription of Shotter, J. (1995). In dialogue: and truth-value independent of the determining effects radical constructionism. In L. P. Steffe & J. Gale of human social activity. Human action is under- (Eds.), Constructivism in education (pp. 41–56). stood as occasioned in accordance with systemic Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. constraints or sociolinguistic rules rather than Sismondo, S. (1993). Some social constructions. Social determined by scientific laws. Through its investiga- Studies of Science, 23(3), 515–553. tion of cognitive and sociolinguistic practices, con- structivism/constructionism shows the problematic, socially negotiated, culturally, and linguistically bounded status of factual knowledge and explana- Co n t e n t An a l y s i s tory systems of thought, challenging traditional views of the relations between the particular and Content analysis is a tool of the universal. However, debates are ongoing about used to determine the presence and of the extent of the relativism practiced (ontological, concepts, terms, or words in one or more pieces epistemological, or methodological). Proponents of recorded . This systematic and and critics of constructivist approaches raise the replicable technique allows for compressing many issue of the self-refuting character of linguistically words of text into fewer content categories based 226 Content Analysis on explicit rules of in order to allow help researchers learn a great deal about individu- researchers to make about the author als, groups, organizations, institutions, and even the (individuals, groups, organizations, or institu- larger society in which they are embedded. tions), the audience, and their culture and time. Application Conceptual Overview and Discussion Content analysis is possible whenever there is a Content analysis became a relatively established physical record of communication. This record of method of systematic analysis during the 1940s. At communication can be (a) created independently of first, content analysis was a time-consuming pro- the research process and internally by the individual cess, executed manually, prone to human error, or organization under study (as, e.g., newspaper and subject to serious time and resource con- articles, or archived documents detailing household straints. Because of this, the technique was limited consumption), (b) internally generated and exter- to examinations of texts for the frequency of nally directed (e.g., the verbatim transcripts of leg- occurrence of identified terms or to short texts, islative hearings or committee debates generated by being deemed impractical for more inves- a number of parliaments around the world, which tigations, for larger texts, or for most recorded may reflect or obscure the political decision-making communication other than written texts. By the process), or (c) produced by the researchers them- 1950s, researchers had recognized the need for selves in view of the analysis that needs to be con- more sophisticated methods of analysis, and as a ducted (as, e.g., videotapes of news result they started to focus on concepts rather than programs or commercials, or of debates carried out words, and on semantic relationships rather than in the legislature and/or town council). The popula- just the mere presence of certain words. tion of available greatly influences Since then, content analysis has been extended the nature of the questions that can be answered to almost every type of recorded communication, through content analysis, as well as the reliability ranging from books, newspaper articles, historical and validity of the final research results. documents, medical records, Web sites, speeches, The most basic quantitative content analysis and communiqués to theater, television programs, consists of a frequency count of words, although sketches and drawings, informal conversation, the assumption that the most frequently mentioned writing journals, , classroom discus- words reflect the greatest concerns does not always sions, lectures, and manifestos of political parties. hold true. A concept’s importance might be over- As a result, today this research technique is used in estimated when the word has multiple meanings fields as varied as marketing and advertising, lit- (as when a record includes references to cabinet erature and rhetoric, media studies, “ministers” and religious “ministers,” and the and anthropology, cultural, gender and age stud- researcher fails to set these meanings apart). Its ies, sociology, political science, psychology and importance can be underestimated when synonyms cognitive science, theology, and religious studies. are used for stylistic reasons (e.g., an author uses Since the 1980s, content analysis has also been the name of the president—“Obama”—and “our widely used in media analysis and media evalua- head of state” in order not to repeat the word tion, often in combination with data on media cir- president) or when the author avoids raising the culation, frequency of publication, readership, and issue represented by the concept as a result of self- number of viewers or listeners. During recent censorship in response to societal bias or political decades, various software packages have greatly pressure (e.g., the author omits references to cur- facilitated the execution of content analysis by rent political leaders for fear of censorship). allowing researchers to sift systematically through To avoid such problems, researchers first use large volumes of data with relative ease, and to frequency counts to identify words of potential make inferences that can then be corroborated by interest, and then conduct a Key Word In Context using other methods of data collection and data (KWIC) search to test for the consistency of usage analysis. Today it is widely recognized that the care- of words. Most qualitative research software ful examination of communication patterns can ­programs allow researchers to read the whole Content Analysis 227

­sentence in order to see the word in context, a To construct the categories, words with similar procedure that strengthens the validity of infer- meanings and connotations are organized in mutu- ences made from the data. Newer software pack- ally exclusive and exhaustive categories, which ages, which can differentiate between the different ensures that no word falls between two categories, meanings of the same word based on context, have all words are assigned to the categories, and the greatly reduced the level of difficulty in conducting categories do not overlap. The text is broken down content analysis and allowed for ever more sophis- into manageable categories that could range from a ticated analyses. In addition, researchers must note word or a word sense to a phrase, a sentence, or that nonstandardized measures can lead to biased even a theme, and then it is examined using either results. If, over the Cold War, the Americans conceptual or relational analysis. Conceptual anal- uttered a total of 100,000 words, including 100 ysis establishes the existence and frequency of con- salient references to weapons’ proliferation, while cepts represented by words or phrases in a given the Soviets uttered 200,000 words, including 200 text. Relational analysis goes one step farther to salient references, one might conclude that the examine the relationships among different concepts Soviet were interested in the issue more than were in a given text. Dermot McKeone further differenti- the Americans. However, when standardizing the ated prescriptive analysis from open analysis. measure to obtain the proportion of all salient While prescriptive analysis emphasizes a closely words, then we would conclude that both sides defined set of communication parameters, which were equally interested in the topic. Depending on can be specific messages or subject matter, open the recorded communication under analysis, basic analysis identifies the dominant messages and main content analysis could also include space measure- subject matter of a recorded communication. ments (column length in the case of newspaper Coding units can be defined physically in terms articles or advertisements) and time counts (for of their natural or intuitive borders (e.g., letters, radio and television programs). newspaper articles, communiqués, poems, or archi- val documents); syntactically by using the separa- tions created by the author (e.g., words, sentences, How It Works or paragraphs); or referentially by employing the More complex content analysis extends beyond referential units created by the author (e.g., a text word counts to code and categorize the data. Data might refer to Barack Obama as “our president,” are coded with coding protocols decided either “President Obama,” “the 44th president of the before or during the analysis. In a priori coding, United States” or just “Obama”). In addition, cod- categories are established before the start of the ing units can be defined by using propositional analysis. Professional colleagues agree on units that result from breaking the text down in the selected categories, the coding is applied to the order to examine underlying assumptions. For data, and revisions are operated, if needed, in order example, a sentence reading “Transitional justice to maximize the mutual exclusivity and exhaustive- was launched after the new democratic govern- ness of the categories. In emergent coding, catego- ment replaced the dictatorship” is broken down ries are established after a preliminary examination into “The new democratic government replaced of the data and during data analysis. In this case, at the dictatorship” and “Transitional justice was least two researchers review the material indepen- launched.” dently and select a set of features for inclusion on a Typically, content analysis uses sampling units, checklist; reconcile any differences between their recording units, or context units. Sampling units, initial checklists; design a consolidated checklist to which can be words, sentences, or paragraphs, are apply the coding independently; and finally check the individual units we make descriptive and explan- the reliability of the coding, aiming for at least a atory statements about. If we wish to examine nov- 95% agreement. If the level of reliability is not elists who wrote on transitional justice, then the acceptable, the researchers repeat the process as individual writers included in our sample constitute many times as needed to obtain the desired reliabil- our sampling units. Recording units can be ideas ity. If the level of reliability is the one desired, the relevant for the analysis. For example, we might coding is applied on a large-scale basis. want to see if some novelists valued transitional 228 Content Analysis justice for its ability to reevaluate the recent dictato- works of suspected authors (James Madison, in the rial past or for preventing future human rights tres- case of the Federalist Papers, or Clinton’s close passes. However, in some cases it might be difficult collaborators in the case of Primary Colors) and for the researcher to determine whether authors correlating their frequency of key terms (nouns or present transitional justice as a backward-looking function words) with that of the target text. or a forward-looking phenomenon by simply exam- One of the most remarkable applications of ining their assertions on transitional justice. In this content analysis to political science was under- case, researchers use context units, which allow taken as part of the Manifesto Research Group assertions to be evaluated in the context of the writ- and the Comparative Manifestoes Project, which ing. The researcher must decide whether the para- estimated policy preferences from the manifestos graph around the assertion, several paragraphs, or of a wide range of left-wing and right-wing politi- the entire writing is the appropriate context unit. cal parties in more than 50 countries in Central Klaus Krippendorf listed six questions that need and Eastern Europe, Western Europe, North to be addressed in every content analysis. These America, and Asia over the 1944–1989 and 1990– questions are: (1) Which data are analyzed? 2003 periods. Election programs were taken as (2) How are they defined? (3) What is the popula- indicators of the parties’ policy emphasis and tion from which they are drawn? (4) What is the policy positions at a certain point in time, and context relative to which the data are analyzed? were subjected to content analysis. The analysis (5) What are the boundaries of the analysis? ascertained party preferences with respect to for- (6) What is the target of the inferences? To allow eign relations (anti-imperialism, military, peace, for replication, data examined through content and European integration), freedom and democ- analysis must be durable in nature. Several prob- racy (respect for freedom, and constitutionalism), lems can occur when written documents or other political system (decentralization, political corrup- types of recorded communication are assembled tion, and political authority), economy (planning, for content analysis. When a significant number of free enterprise, corporatism, and protectionism), documents from the population are missing or welfare and quality of life (social justice, culture, unavailable, the content analysis must be aban- education, and environmentalism), the fabric of doned. When some documents match the require- society (traditional morality, law and order, mul- ments for analysis but they cannot be coded ticulturalism, social harmony), and social groups because they are incomplete or contain ambiguous (labor, farmers, underprivileged). The best-known content, these documents must be abandoned. research resulting from these projects was pub- lished by Ian Budge and Hans-Dieter Klingemann in 2001 and by Klingemann and Andrea Volkens Use in Political Science in 2006. Some of the best applications of content analy- While the database generated by the Manifesto sis in the area of political science have included Research Group and the Comparative Manifestoes determining authorship, identifying trends and Project is recognized as the most comprehensive patterns in documents, and monitoring shifts in and most extensively validated set of policy esti- public opinion. Using Bayesian techniques based mates enabling comparisons over time and space, on word frequency, in 1964 Frederick Mosteller critics have pointed out that the scheme used to and David Wallace showed that James Madison code the political manifestos cannot be changed had indeed authored the Federalist Papers. Three without jeopardizing its ability to enable meaning- decades later, Don Foster used statistical methods ful comparative research. Thus, the shortcomings to identify Joe Klein as the anonymous author of of the coding scheme, most notably its overlapping Primary Colors, the 1992 fictionalized account of and missing categories, cannot be adequately Bill Clinton’s quest for the American presidency. addressed without recoding all manifestos all over After repeated denials, Klein admitted writing the again, a time-consuming endeavor that many controversial insider’s account, leading to unprec- researchers believe would be useless since, by the edented media interest in content analysis. time the recoding is completed, the new coding Authorship is determined by examining the prior scheme would itself be outdated. Content Analysis 229

Other Uses Critical Summary Content analysis is particularly useful for case An exemplar of content analysis in psychiatry study research when more sophisticated tools of is James Rogers, Jamie Bromley, Christopher analysis cannot be employed because they are McNally, and David Lester’s study of suicide notes more expensive or because their use is restricted by that tested the motivational component of the a number of ethical dilemmas. By using quantita- existential–constructivist model of suicide. The tive and qualitative interpretive analysis, the exam- content analysis of a sample of 40 suicide notes ination of available records of communication can generally supported the four theoretical categories allow researchers to gain a great deal of knowledge of somatic, relational (social), spiritual, and psy- about individuals, groups, organizations, and insti- chological outlined by the literature. tutions, provided that their examination is sensi- Psychological motivations were found to be the tive to both the context and the purpose of the most prevalent, followed by relational, spiritual, communication. and somatic concerns. Notes of completed suicides included more relational motivations than did Lavinia Stan those of suicide attempters. Older note writers showed more psychological and fewer spiritual See also Critical ; Document Analysis; motivations than did younger writers. Based on Explanatory ; Qualitative Analysis in Case the study, the authors concluded that the existen- Study; Quantitative Analysis in Case Study; Relational tial–constructivist model of suicide was robust and Analysis; Textual Analysis parsimonious, but at the same time they recom- mended its revision to provide a stronger meaning- based understanding of suicidal behavior. Further Readings In business and management, Richard D’Aveni Budge, I., & Klingemann, H.-D. (2001). Mapping policy and Ian MacMillan used content analysis to exam- preferences: Estimates for parties, electors and ine the focus of attention of top managers in com- governments, 1945–1988. Oxford, UK: Oxford panies that are surviving or failing bankruptcy. By University Press. examining the letters sent to shareholders by senior D’Aveni, R. A., & MacMillan, I. C. (1990). Crisis and managers of 57 bankrupt firms and 57 surviving the content of managerial communications: A study of firms, researchers found out that under normal the focus of attention of top managers in surviving circumstances managers pay equal attention to the and failing firms. Administrative Science Quarterly, internal and external environment. In times of cri- 35, 634–657. sis, managers of surviving firms pay more atten- Foster, D. (2001). Author unknown: On the trail of tion to the critical aspects of their external anonymous [Tales of a literary detective]. New York: environment and their firms’ output, while those Holt. Klingemann, H.-D., & Volkens, A. (2006). Mapping of failing firms focus on the internal environment policy preferences: II. Estimates for parties, electors and their firms’ input. and governments in Central and Eastern Europe, Sociologists David Schweingruber and Ronald European Union, and OECD 1990–2003. Oxford, Wohlstein used content analysis to examine myths UK: Oxford University Press. about crowds in introductory sociology textbooks. Krippendorf, K. (1980). Content analysis: An The authors examined the paragraphs on crowds introduction to its . Beverly Hills, CA: included in 20 introductory sociology textbooks, Sage. coding them for the presence of seven crowd McKeone, D. (1995). Measuring your media profile. myths, claims about crowds that have no empirical Aldershot, UK, & Brookfield, VT: Gower Press. support and have been rejected by scholars in the Mosteller, F., & Wallace, D. A. (1964). and field. After discovering that the number of myths disputed authorship: The Federalist. Reading, MA: per book ranged from five to one, Schweingruber Addison-Wesley. and Wohlstein made important suggestions for Rogers, J. P., Bromley, J. L., McNally, C. J., & Lester, D. rewriting these chapters and for improving the (2007). Content analysis of suicide notes as a test of the book reviewing process. motivational component of the existential–constructivist 230 Contentious Issues in Case Study Research

model of suicide. Journal of Counseling and on a process (how things have unfolded over time), Development, 85, 182–188. the construction of a causal system of explanations Schweingruber, D., & Wohlstein, R. T. (2005). The based on identified independent variables [Y = madding crowd goes to school: Myths about crowds f(X1; X2; X3 . . . )], or a comparative study of the in introductory sociology textbooks. Teaching behavior of individuals, groups or societies across Sociology, 33, 136–153. two or more phenomena. The design and the meth- odology of a case study on a contentious topic may be likened to detective work; the researcher follows Co n t e n t i o u s Is s u e s i n various pathways and allows the tension between various hypotheses to exist. He or she also pays Ca s e St u d y Re s e a r c h attention to what have traditionally been underval- ued data: seemingly insignificant details in the case, Generally speaking, a case study may be consid- as well as his or her own personal, emotional, cog- ered contentious if (a) there is no agreement nitive, and relational limitations. among the actors and/or researchers as to “what Contentious case studies are a form of process went on” or “what is going on”; or (b) there is research; Karl Weick encouraged researchers to limited access to and/or knowledge of the phe- use verbs in their gerund form (“—ing”) to stimu- nomenon under study, either because such access late process thinking. Analysis of contentious or knowledge has been considered taboo or issues relies on the search for new patterns in pre- because questioning the decisions made in relation viously undervalued or seemingly irrelevant or to the phenomenon has the potential to affect the meaningless data. Working in a team in a climate real-world interests of dominant players. A con- of open debate contributes to the quality of pro- tentious case involves situations that are unclear cess research on contentious cases. or puzzling, where decisions were not, or are not, Publishing contentious cases or case research easy. In general, contentious case studies concern that has been contentious during the research pro- gray or murky areas at any stage of the process of cess may be difficult, for several reasons. Journal preparing the case, from research to publishing. editors who hesitate to publish qualitative articles may be reluctant to accept the additional risk of running articles that are both qualitative and con- Conceptual Overview and Discussion tentious. In addition, current journal guidelines do Case study research has the potential to raise con- not generally allow for a full description of the tentious issues at any stage, from the selection of efforts required to access, research, and obtain the phenomenon to be examined (contentious clearances for the content of a contentious case topic), to gaining access to a research site (conten- study; in most cases, it is difficult to publish a rig- tious field site), conducting (conten- orously detailed description of the methods used in tious research process), gaining agreement on data contentious case research beyond brief, formal collected, providing feedback to participants, or explanations. publishing the study (contentious case research as opposed to publishing more mainstream research). Application Research on a contested domain or phenomenon requires an awareness and appreciation of and Examples of contentious issues in business ethics respect for different voices and interpretations. include conflicting values, such as corporate versus Rather than imposing an artificial convergence of organizational values; conflicting analysis of dif- incompatible views or positions, the researcher ferent and discordant voices from diverse stake- should assume and acknowledge that there is no holders; the interplay between different levels of consensus. A contentious topic may be formulated analysis and individual and collective action; unre- as a paradox, a contradiction, or a dilemma. The solved conflicts regarding the interests of one starting question is empirical, open-ended, and group over other groups; or issues related to differ- descriptive, most often based on of cur- ent time spans (a good decision at one moment in rent events, facts, and trends. The case may focus time may be detrimental in the long run).