www.ssoar.info Qualitative content analysis: theoretical foundation, basic procedures and software solution Mayring, Philipp Erstveröffentlichung / Primary Publication Monographie / monograph Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: Mayring, Philipp : Qualitative content analysis: theoretical foundation, basic procedures and software solution. Klagenfurt, 2014. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-395173 Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Dieser Text wird unter einer CC BY-NC-ND Lizenz (Namensnennung- This document is made available under a CC BY-NC-ND Licence Nicht-kommerziell-Keine Bearbeitung) zur Verfügung gestellt. Nähere (Attribution Non Comercial-NoDerivatives). For more Information see: Auskünfte zu den CC-Lizenzen finden Sie hier: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ Qualitative Content Analysis Theoretical Foundation, Basic Procedures and Software Solution Philipp Mayring Philipp Mayring: Qualitative Content Analysis. Theoretical Foundation, Basic Procedures and Software Solution Klagenfurt, Austria, 2014 free download pdf-version for print on demand see www.beltz.de copyright Philipp Mayring 4 Table of Contents 1. Introduction: Research Methods Between Qualitative and Quantitative Paradigms ................................ 6 1.1 Science War: Conflicting Paradigms .......................................................................................................... 6 1.2 Mixed Methods as a Solution? .................................................................................................................. 8 1.3 Common Research Criteria for Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches ................................................ 9 1.4 Qualitative Content Analysis as Mixed Methods Approach, Following Common Research Standards ... 10 1.5 Basic Research Steps ................................................................................................................................ 10 2. Overview on Approaches to Text Analysis in Social Sciences ................................................................... 16 3. Theoretical Background for a Qualitative Content Analysis ..................................................................... 18 3.1 Communication Science: Quantitative Content Analysis ........................................................................ 18 3.1.1 Preliminary Phase ............................................................................................................................ 18 3.1.2 Consolidation Phase ......................................................................................................................... 19 3.1.3 Fine Developments and Interdisciplinary Expansion ....................................................................... 19 3.1.4 The Present-day Situation: “Discontent” Analysis? ......................................................................... 20 3.1.5 Basic Techniques of Quantitative Content Analyses ........................................................................ 22 3.2 Human Sciences: Hermeneutics .............................................................................................................. 27 3.3 Linguistics: The Structure of Language and Text ..................................................................................... 31 3.4 Psychology of Text Processing ................................................................................................................. 34 3.5 General Psychology: Theories of Categorization ..................................................................................... 37 4. Basics of Qualitative Content Analysis ...................................................................................................... 39 4.1 Basic Principles and Definition ................................................................................................................. 39 4.1.1 Embedding of the material within the communicative context ...................................................... 39 4.1.2 Systematic, rule-bound procedure .................................................................................................. 39 4.1.3 Categories in the focus of analysis ................................................................................................... 40 4.1.4 Object reference in place of formal techniques .............................................................................. 40 4.1.5 Testing specific instruments via pilot studies .................................................................................. 41 4.1.6 Theory-guided character of the analysis .......................................................................................... 41 4.1.7 Integrating quantitative steps of analysis ........................................................................................ 41 4.1.8 Quality criteria ................................................................................................................................. 42 4.2 Materials for Qualitative Content Analysis – What Could be Analyzed? ................................................. 43 4.3 Transcription Systems .............................................................................................................................. 45 4.4 Content-Analytical Context Model .......................................................................................................... 48 4.5 Content-Analytical Units .......................................................................................................................... 51 4.6 A General Step-by-step Model of Qualitative Content Analysis .............................................................. 53 5. Example..................................................................................................................................................... 55 5.1 Presentation of the Corpus Material ....................................................................................................... 55 5.2 Defining the Text Material ....................................................................................................................... 56 5.2.1 Determining the Material ................................................................................................................ 56 5.2.2 Analysis of the Circumstances of Origin ........................................................................................... 57 5.2.3 Formal Characteristics of the Material ............................................................................................ 57 5.2.4 Direction of Analysis ........................................................................................................................ 58 5.2.5 Theory-oriented Differentiation of the Problem ............................................................................. 59 5.2.6 Theoretical Differentiation of Sub-issues ......................................................................................... 59 6. Specific Techniques of Qualitative Content Analysis ................................................................................ 63 6.1 Basic Forms of Interpretation .................................................................................................................. 63 6.2 Summarizing ............................................................................................................................................ 65 6.3 Inductive Category Formation ................................................................................................................. 79 6.4 Explication (Context Analysis) .................................................................................................................. 88 6.5 Structuring – Deductive Category Assignment ........................................................................................ 95 6.6. Mixed Procedures ......................................................................................................................... 104 5 6.6.1 Content Structuring / Theme Analysis ........................................................................................... 104 6.6.2 Type-building content analysis ...................................................................................................... 105 6.6.3 Parallel procedures ........................................................................................................................ 106 7. Quality Criteria of Content Analysis ........................................................................................................ 107 7.1 Classical Quality Criteria ........................................................................................................................ 107 7.2 Specific Content-analytical Quality Criteria ........................................................................................... 109 7.3 Three Levels of Inter-coder Agreement ................................................................................................. 114 8. Computer Programs for Qualitative Content Analysis ............................................................................ 116 9. Related text analysis approaches............................................................................................................ 123 Appendix..........................................................................................................................................................